Resources

A cycle train is similar in approach to the ‘walking school bus’ – adult volunteer ‘conductors’ cycle along a set route to school, collecting children from designated ‘train stops’ along the way. They are well established in Belgium and are beginning to appear in the United Kingdom. Previous research in New Zealand found a high level of interest in the cycle train concept, leading us to design and conduct a trial for implementing cycle train networks here.

This research explores the potential for the ‘network-planning’ approach to the design of public transport to improve patronage of public transport services in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Network planning, which mimics the ‘go-anywhere’ convenience of the car by enabling passengers to transfer between services on a simple pattern of lines, has achieved impressive results in some European and North American cities, where patronage levels have grown considerably and public subsidies are used more efficiently.

The C-roundabout (cyclist roundabout) is a new multi-lane roundabout design (developed as part of a 2006 Land Transport NZ research project Improved multi-lane roundabout designs for cyclists) that aims to improve the safety of cyclists at multi-lane roundabouts and make multi-lane roundabouts more cyclist-friendly. A C-roundabout was installed at the Palomino Drive/Sturges Road intersection in Auckland and was evaluated between 2008 and 2011 in terms of its safety, capacity, and the opinions of cyclists, pedestrians and car drivers. The C-roundabout successfully reduced vehicle speeds to 30km/h, which is close to the speed of cyclists. This made the roundabout safer for cyclists, as well as for other road users. The installation of the C-roundabout at this uncongested site had little impact on capacity. It drew positive feedback from cyclists and pedestrians, but about half of the car drivers were not in favour of it.

The primary objective of the project was the development of criteria to define the end-of–life condition of pavements. These criteria could then be used in pavement performance modelling to obtain a more robust measure of remaining life. Another objective was the generation of a new model for maintenance costs. This could then be combined with the existing models for roughness and rutting to define a distress level at which rehabilitation should occur. None of the maintenance cost models developed were particularly successful in producing a reliable prediction of maintenance costs based on the pavement characteristics available from RAMM. Therefore, a logit model was developed to predict rehabilitation decisions. The major factors in the rehabilitation model were maintenance costs, traffic levels and roughness. The rehabilitation decision model derived for this study predicted rehabilitation decisions well. Approximately 72% of pavements that had been rehabilitated were predicted as requiring rehabilitation.

This purpose of this project is to assess the comparative risk associated with exposure to traffic pollution when travelling via different transport modes in New Zealand cities. Concentrations of the key traffic-related pollutants (particulate matter: (PM): PM10, PM2.5, PM1; ultrafine particles (UFPs) and carbon monoxide (CO)) were simultaneously monitored on pre-defined routes in Auckland and Christchurch during the morning and evening commute on people travelling by car, bus, on-road bike, train (Auckland only) and off-road bike (Christchurch only) from February to May 2009. The key results of this research are: • Car drivers are consistently exposed to the highest average levels of CO. • On-road cyclists are exposed to higher levels of CO, PM1 and UFPs than off-road cyclists. • Car drivers and bus passengers are exposed to higher average levels of UFP than cyclists. • At some parts of their journeys, travellers are exposed to very high levels of...

The objective of this research was to quantify the contribution of public transport to economic productivity.

This report provides the outcomes from research based on the Land Transport New Zealand gravel road monitoring programme that commenced during 2002 and included the cooperation of 51 local authorities. These sections were monitored on a sixmonthly basis and all relevant data such as maintenance, rainfall where available and evaporation were incorporated into a national database. This research project included the provision of practical guidelines for the construction and maintenance of gravel roads. In addition, the gravel road data were analysed and outcomes are presented. The resulting models are effective indications of gravel loss on a network scale but further research would be required for more detailed models. This can be achieved by collecting more information on the impact of routine maintenance such as blading.

The Australian/New Zealand standard Lighting for roads and public spaces, part 3.1: pedestrian area (category P) lighting - performance and design requirements (AS/NZS 1158.3.1:2005) sets out specifications for pedestrian lighting. The standard defines adequate and acceptable pedestrian lighting practices to make walking safe. This research project complements and extends the standard by investigating pedestrian lighting practices to make walking not only safe, but also more attractive. The project highlights issues and perspectives from which to view the effectiveness of the pedestrian lighting. This research is partly based on the observation that most lighting in the public arena has traditionally been driven by the needs of motorists, but pedestrians' needs are different. It studies those differences and guides on lighting techniques that can appropriately and specifically cater for pedestrians. The findings are based on a review of literature incorporated with information from the lighting industry.

Flexural beam breakage and fatigue tests were conducted in 2008–11 to determine their relationships with pavement fatigue life and tensile strain for a range of New Zealand materials for use in pavement design of stabilised aggregates. The results showed that the tensile fatigue relationships from several fatigue tests under repetitive loading could be approximated by single flexural beam breakage tests. These relationships resulted in significantly longer pavement lives than the Austroads pavement design criteria but still predicted shorter fatigue lives than what actually occurred at the Canterbury accelerated pavement testing indoor facility (CAPTIF) test track, indicating some conservatism in the approach. Further research is required to validate the tensile fatigue design procedure against actual field data. Keywords: aggregates, basecourse, CAPTIF, fatigue, beam fatigue testing, modulus, pavement design, strain, tensile strain criteria, tensile strength

The New Zealand government is seeking to reduce the number of road crashes that arise from driver fatigue in this country. To this end, Land Transport New Zealand commissioned a review of international driver fatigue literature (2000–2007) to assess measures against driver fatigue that would be effective for general public drivers. The review first notes that a number of disciplines study driver fatigue, each using its own definitions and so emphasising different measures. This constrains the development of measures and longer-term programmes for the general public. The review thus notes the need for evidence-based theory specific to general-public driver fatigue. This would enable clearer understanding and facilitate the design, management and evaluation of programmes.