The right turn bay is a composed flush median, arrow, centrelines and limit lines. However, there is an RTB code, which includes all of these individual markings as a complete unit. Measure the RTB from start of flush median marking to the give way limit line, and vice versa for RTB’s in the decreasing lane.
Figure 1: Measuring a right turn bay
The offsets of markings tend to vary along their length. As the road width varies the offset will also change. However, it is pointless to stop and start marking records for small changes in offset. As a general rule, use the following default offsets for the following marking types:
| Marking type | Side | Typical offset | Comments |
| M15 - Edgeline | L or R | 3.5m | 3.5m is the standard lane width for state highways |
| M15 - Edgeline on a Passing lane | L or R | 7.0m | 7.0m is 2 x 3.5 (standard lane width for state highways) |
| M03 - No Passing line | L or R | 0.2m | |
| M04 - No Passing advance | L or R | 0.2m | |
| M12 - Lane line | L or R | 3.5m | This is the lane used to delineate the crawler lane and fast lane |
| Arrows | L or R | 1.5m | Arrows are typically located in the centre of the lane |
RRPMs are generally present on all state highways. They are numerous in type and colour. To ensure that RRPMs can be collected efficiently and without cluttering the database, use M08 as the only code. Do not stop and start the RRPMs at intersections.
The only way to do this properly is to take existing markings data with you on site and integrate the new markings with the existing markings.
The following diagram shows how painted shoulders should be collected. Enter the numbers of 'bars' in the 'Quantity' field of the Markings Table.
Figure 2: Recording painted shoulders
It is common now to have profiled (audible) road markings on the state highway network. The location of these markings can either be directly on the existing marking or offset to one side (eg some edge lines).
The application of these profiled markings is also commonly undertaken by contractors that do not do the local network line marking contracts.
Profiled line markings are a separate marking from the standard marking, so in the case of an existing edgeline where a profiled marking has also been carried out there should be two separate records.
There are two types of thermoplastic material, hot and cold. The cold laid thermoplastic has a significantly longer life than the hot laid material, additionally the cold material costs 30% more.
Identifying the two classifications will allow analysis of value for money over time.
As with all the other RAMM Tables, the offset should be the distance from the closest part of the railing to the road centreline. This also enables people who are using the data to determine the clearance from the railing to the road (especially for over-dimensional loads).
You need to have the RAMM Record for the existing railing and update it. All you will need to do is alter the start (and end) RP/s, as well as make any necessary changes to the length and terminal treatments. It is also important to update the changed on and changed by attributes.
Sight rails were historically stored in the signs table (as this is how they were maintained) but now have to be stored in the Railings Table.
Railings that form part of the bridge are not entered into the railings table. They are entered into the Bridge Table (this table is not discussed in the State highway database operations manual as it is maintained by other parties). Railings on either side of the Bridge are stored in the Railings Table.
The ground_height measurement recorded in RAMM relates to the height of the rail from the ground. This measurement is extremely important from a safety perspective. Where you measure from and to varies slightly on the type of rail and on where the railing is (ie centre of road or off the road along the edge of the carriageway).
With regards to where you should be measuring from, if the rail is on a kerbed island, then the rule is to measure from the top of seal. Whereas a rail set a few metres away from the side of the carriageway (on the other side of a footpath, for example) should be measured from the actual ground level where the rail is.
With regards to where you should be measuring to, for some railings like the concrete barrier type, the obvious answer is to measure to the top. The confusion is probably with the thrie beam type or similar. With these railings I suggest the measure should also go to the top of the rail, but a measure to the centre of the rail should be put in the 'comments' field along with any other relevant information.
Post count is simply the number of posts that the sign is on. Typically, Chevrons have 2 posts, (as with most large or long signs like directional signage) most other signs have 1 post and signs that are attached to lamp poles have no post. For posts with multiple signs, record the post only on one sign. Bridge End Markers and KPegs have a post count of 0.
Nonstandard signs typically should not be used on the state highway network.
Where there is a special local reason to use nonstandard signs, discuss with the Transport Agency’s Regional RAMM Champion and the Information Manager – Asset on what codes to use.
Bridge end markers are considered sign inventory and are recorded in the Signs Table.
None of these signs are recorded in the signs table. Culvert marker post details are recorded in the drainage table (in the culvert number field). Hazard markers and edge markers are not recorded due to their dynamic nature and sheer volume.
The general rule for state highways in an urban environment is that all signs along the state highway urban corridor are to be collected.
You need to provide the physical sign details and the sign ID so that the correct sign is identified and updated in the RAMM Database.
There are three types of reflectivity, and they are easily identified, as shown below:
Figure 3: Diamond Grade - diamond pattern appearance
Figure 4: High Intensity - honeycomb/hexagonal pattern appearance
Figure 5: Engineering Grade - not very common, no apparent pattern but reflective
The reverse legend is used when the sign has a legend on both sides. The reverse side is always the legend that faces road users travelling against the Increasing RP direction.
There are only 3 offsets you can use. They are 0, 6 and 15m. Choose the offset that best represents the true offsets of the sign.
Location details are mandatory for all assets and must, as a minimum, be provided in one of the two available formats. A full set of location details is preferred and may be required in some instances.
The two location formats are defined as:
An accurate spatial location (GPS) is the primary location format required and should be collected whenever possible. The spatial location (GPS) must be provided within 5 meter accuracy. If it is not possible to capture the spatial location due to the asset location preventing the use of GPS or other working restrictions (eg safety), then an accurate road location is required.
If the details provided for either of the location formats is accurate and complete, the other can be determined by RAMM (eg if the NZMG northing & easting is accurate, RAMM can determine the road location details in most cases).
There may be some issues around complex road alignments (such as interchanges) or assets not along the state highway corridor, where the road location details may need to be confirmed manually (eg an asset on a ramp within a busy interchange may be close enough to the state highway or another ramp to be assigned to the wrong road or RAMM may be unable to assign the appropriate details on an asset outside a certain range of the state highway).
Additional location descriptions can be entered in 'Street Address' and 'Location Description', to assist with accurately locating an asset.
Offset should be measured to the nearest 0.1m, but if the ITS asset can easily be located using the offset provided, then that is adequate. As with all the other assets, the offset should be the distance from the closest part of the asset to the road centreline (eg to the inside post for a dual post VMS or the edge of the cabinet closest to the state highway).
Due to the location of some assets it may not be possible to determine all location details safely or accurately. The following rules should be applied:
'Both' is meant to be used for an asset which is installed across multiple lanes or stretches across the full width of the road.
When assets are located on opposite sides of the road (such as overhead detection devices), each asset is collected as a separate record and the side indicated as 'Left' or 'Right'. In this situation, recording a single entry with 'Both' is incorrect, as the assets should not be grouped into one entry.
All Transport Agency owned ITS assets are to be collected, whether on or off the state highway corridor. This includes assets still under Defects Liability Period (DLP), any mobile devices and assets in store within a Region or the Transport Agency’s national stock.
The location of the asset needs to be defined in terms of the section of the state highway it manages/is operationally related to or the point that will assist with locating the asset in relation to the state highway, as shown in the figure below:
Figure 6: Recording the location of Transport Agency assets not located on the state highway
The location of the asset is captured as follows:
The asset's location can be summarised as:
All mobile assets (such as portable VMS signs) owned by NZ Transport Agency, irrespective of their state or location, need to be location referenced as follows:
Any location type details that are considered to be important or of value can be completed in the other available fields (eg contact person, trailer license plate number, etc).
All assets owned by NZ Transport Agency, whether installed in the field or kept in store as spares, needs to be entered in the ITS table. These assets can easily be identified through their state of 'In Store'.
Assets in store need to be location referenced as follows:
The location of the store needs to be noted in the 'Location General' field to assist with locating the asset if required (eg TYCO Petone Depot).
Once construction of the asset is completed (ie physical works are complete), the as-built and asset data need to be provided. The trigger point for the supply of this data should be the successful completion of the site acceptance test (SAT) or earlier. Even if an asset is not yet activated or on-line, it can be still be added to the database with the state indicated as 'Unavailable'. The state is merely updated to 'In Service' once it is activated.
The 'State' and 'State Date' always refers to the current status of the asset and needs to be updated as soon as the state changes, ie due to maintenance replacement and rotation or breakdown, etc. The 'State Date' does not refer to the date the data was collected, but when the assets state changed.
Whether the asset is active or not, does not determine if the asset data is required. An asset's 'State' is updated to indicate this. For example, a new camera will be added as soon as all the physical works have been completed and will have a state of 'Unavailable' until it is activated/operational, at which time, the state is updated to 'In Service'.
For existing assets, where the start date of the current state cannot be determined, the following default values can be applied:
Assets not owned by the NZ Transport Agency are included for information and planning purposes only, but are excluded from NZ Transport Agency valuation or renewal programming, therefore they do not require all mandatory fields to be populated. ROSA sensors (Metservice owned assets) are an example of this. They are very expensive to replace and are located in the state highway road surface, and therefore impact on state highway operations and planning.
The minimum fields required to be populated for these assets are:
The ITS assets have been grouped into eight main ITS asset groups, with specific sub-types listed under each (as described in more detail in Section 11.0 of the State highway database operations manual). It is important to ensure that the main and sub-type selected match, as the software currently does not facilitate this.
Use the codes as listed in the main groups in appendix 1 of the State highway database operations manual. The main and sub-types are linked based on the same prefix number.
All components need to be separately recorded as listed in the asset type and sub-type list, ie a VMS site will require a record for the sign, cabinet and main components within the cabinet such as uninterrupted power supply (UPS), batteries and modem.
Only one record per asset or component is allowed. Do not group similar assets at the same location. For example, if three closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras are attached to the same pole (same location), then nine separate records are required to indicate the three cameras and their components at this location:
The cabinet and contents would also be required as separate records.
The only exception to this would be for multiple assets installed as a single unit, such that they cannot be replaced/maintained independently of each other and are considered to be acting as a single unit (eg batteries in a VMS cabinet). The batteries are generally installed as a set and when one fails, the entire set is replaced (eg all 3 batteries installed in the cabinet will be replaced due to a single failure).
These types of assets should be entered as a single record, indicating the number of assets in the 'Asset Description' field and including the cost of all the assets under 'Purchase Cost (eg if the cost of a battery is $500, then the cost for a set of three should be entered as $1,500).
Components critical to the operation of the asset, but not located nearby or on the state highway, also need to be captured. For example, the radio gear for electronic school zone signs is located at the sign and within the school office. Both need to be captured. The radio gear in the school will be captured as explained under 'non state highway located assets'.
The age of an asset is determined from the installation date, therefore the installation date refers to the date an asset was:
The installation date should not be changed when an asset is moved to another location, installed on the network from 'in store' or rotated to replace a failed asset. These changes should be captured through updating the 'State' and 'State Date' details.
The installation date is more related to the date the asset was 'acquired' and the asset age. The design life, expected replacement date or condition assessment can be updated to compensate for differential performance/ageing of assets in the field versus those in store for several years.
If the installation date is unknown, the following can be applied:
The provided design life of an asset at the time of installation or purchase should be used and remain unchanged. The design life should be site and asset specific. For example, cameras installed inland in mild environmental conditions, may have longer expected lives than those installed in harsh coastal conditions. The design life assigned to the asset should be based on this.
If an asset is repaired or components replaced during the asset’s lifetime, the design life should remain unchanged. If a shorter or longer life is expected due to the repair or environmental changes, this should be captured through the 'Expected Replacement Date' and 'Condition' field.
The 'Unknown' code has been provided in the lookup for the mandatory fields 'Manufacturer' and 'Supplier'. This is a temporary code to allow the capture of older assets (installed before 2006), where this information cannot be determined post installation. 'Unknown' cannot be used for assets installed after 01/01/2006.
Consider the following example:
Camera X at location 1 is faulty and the lens for Camera Y at location 2 has reached the end of its life (not repairable). Camera Z at location 3 is no longer required at this location.
The following maintenance activities and resultant updates occur:
1. Camera Z from location 3 is rotated to location 1 to replace Camera X, which is sent away for repairs (on 01/05/2012).
2. Camera Y at location 2 is repaired by replacing the faulty Lens Y (not repairable) with Lens A from the NZ Transport Agency store on 03/05/2012.
Note that the installation date for all the above assets remained unchanged and that the changes were managed through the state and state date, including assets in store.
The original cost of purchasing the asset at time of installation (the total asset purchase cost: value of the asset including transport). This does not include the additional costs related to installation or construction, such as traffic management, physical works related costs, etc.
Model is an optional field and only needs to be populated in cases where it is known (eg from as-built information or as indicated on the asset). The list of lookup codes has been generated from existing data and is not complete. If a model code is not listed in the provided lookup list, a new code needs to be requested from and approved by the NZ Transport Agency. This is to prevent duplication of codes.
The support type for an ITS asset is recorded under the 'Support' field against each record in the ITS table. No other details for the support are collected within the ITS table and a separate record for the support is not required. However, apart from indicating the support type in the ITS table, some supports (eg masts, gantries, etc) need to be captured in the Minor Structures table (as described in section '10.0 Minor Structures Table' below). Minor supports such as walkway bracket, emergency phone pedestal, etc are not recorded separately.
The following scenarios apply:
Maintenance details for assets are completed as follows:
1. Maintained by:
2. Maintenance Contract Number:
3. DLP Start/End Date:
4. The Construction Contract Number remains unchanged for all situations.
The organization who manages the installation of the ITS asset or the subsequent maintenance contract needs to be identified in this field. 'Contract managed by' usually indicates whether the National Office or Regional Office manages the ITS contract.
However, it may also include other organizations outside of the NZ Transport Agency (eg local authorities). Metservice also manages NZ Transport Agency owned weather stations on behalf of the NZ Transport Agency. This does not include the Network Management Consultant (NMC) operating under an NZ Transport Agency Maintenance contract. NZ Transport Agency Regional or National Office would still be responsible for the management of the contract.
Only assets such as cameras, electronic signs, weigh in motion, weigh station sensors, etc used in the operation of the weigh station are included as ITS assets. Any other non ITS assets such as building facilities, lighting, drainage, weigh pit, etc are collected under other appropriate asset tables.
The asset sub-type 'Traffic Signals' only includes signals relating to ramp signalling and other special or non-standard intersection signals such as bridge signals, queuing signal, etc. Intersection Traffic Signals are to be excluded as these should already be covered by Traffic Signals Maintenance C25 and entered in the Traffic Signal module if required.
All NZ Transport Agency owned weather stations need to be included in the ITS table (as Asset Type 'Environmental Monitoring'). Each component of the weather station is collected as a separate record, such as rainfall meter, wind monitor, etc.
Metservice-owned weather stations are not included as an ITS asset. However, any in-road sensors for forecast and non-forecast weather stations which are installed within the state highway corridor, should be added to the ITS table (eg include ROSA sensors ($15,000 if damaged) for automatic weather stations. YSI sensors are low cost and can be excluded). Due to the risk of damage during road maintenance works and the high cost to NZ Transport Agency of replacing these assets, it is pertinent to identify these locations. These assets are collected as Asset Type 'Other' and Sub-type 'Miscellaneous Non NZTA Asset'. The owner type for these assets is 'Other'.
No, these are considered to be a single asset. The 3M signs are rotatable (compared to most others which are permanent), which allows the activation device to be moved between housings. These devices are still collected as a single asset and the rotation managed through:
ITS assets can be identified through a unique name. This assists with easy identification on other NZ Transport Agency systems and can differentiate assets at a single location.
Identification of ITS assets can be done through the following fields:
Loop data is captured in the ITS table, but only loops operationally related to ITS assets such as cycle signs, cameras, etc are included. Loops related to other assets (such as telemetry sites or SCATS loops) are excluded from the ITS table. Each independently operating set of loops is captured as a separate record, as described previously in this section for other ITS asset components.
For example, the diagram below shows two different loop set-ups. Loop Controller 1 is related to the cycle sign down the road. The two sets of loops are captured as two separate records in the ITS table. Some ITS loop set-ups include an additional set of loops installed parallel to the active set of loops, to be used as back-up during a failure of the main loops. The set of spare (non-operational) loops are also captured and managed through updating the 'State' and 'State Date'.
The second site, with four sets of loops connected to the traffic counting unit (Traffic Monitoring System (TMS) Unit), are not captured in the ITS table.
Figure 7: Capturing loop records
For further information contact HNOperformance@nzta.govt.nz.
