Asset assessment guidelines

The Asset Assessment Guide and the Assessment Guidelines are intended to provide a consistent best practice methodology for heavy vehicle access decision making for local authorities in Australia.

Assessment guide

Asset Assessment Guide (PDF, 1.5MB) - Provides a guide so that appointed suppliers can undertake various forms of assessments that will help inform local government road managers of the capability of their assets.

Assessment guidelines

During Phase 2, NHVR partnered with consulting engineers to develop a suite of guidelines focused on undertaking bridge and culvert capability assessments and route capabilities on priority heavy vehicle routes. These are intended to provide a consistent best practice methodology for heavy vehicle access decision making for local authorities in Australia.

The assessment guidelines are designed to assist local government to determine a reasonable estimate of capability of a bridge or culvert, as well assess their critical assets on priority heavy vehicle routes to enable whole-of-journey access outcomes for heavy vehicles.

AG1: Guideline for the Tier 1 Assessment of Heavy Vehicle Culvert Access

This guideline has been developed to assist local government to determine a reasonable estimate of the capability of a culvert and make access decisions in a timely and reliable manner.

Status: NHVR partnered with Aurecon to develop this guideline. It is scheduled for release in August 2024.

AG2: Guideline for the Tier 1 Assessment of Heavy Vehicle Bridge Access

This guideline has been developed to provide a comprehensive set of principles for undertaking Tier 1 comparative vehicle analyses, relevant to bridge access and to outline the procedure to make a reasonable estimate of the capability of a bridge.

Status: NHVR partnered with Aurecon to develop this guideline. It is scheduled for release in August 2024. 

AG3: Route Capability Assessment Guidelines

This guideline will support local government to assess their critical assets on priority heavy vehicle routes to enable whole-of-journey access outcomes for heavy vehicles.

Status: NHVR has recently partnered with Aurecon to develop this guideline. It is scheduled for release in late 2024.

 AG4: Methodology for Risk-Based Assessment of Heavy Vehicle Access to Bridges

This guideline will support local government to use risk-based processes to make appropriate assessments of bridge capability and support local government to consistently manage access across their bridges.

Status: NHVR partnered with Osborn Consulting Engineers to develop this guideline. It is currently under internal review.

National Automated Access System

The NHVR is committed to the development of the National Automated Access System (NAAS). The NHVR also recognises that various road managers and authorities have differing asset assessment requirements and are at various stages in their adoption of technology solutions to assist with automated assessments. As such, these guidelines are likely to be periodically reviewed and updated to align with national practice and ensure that the asset data generated by asset assessments is in a format suitable for use by various systems.