Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP)

The NHVR’s Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP) is an Australian Government funded initiative to optimise heavy vehicle access on the local road networks across Australia.

What do we do?

The project assists local government road managers to undertake heavy vehicle assessments of on-road assets, such as bridges and culverts. Through collaboration we deliver road asset data to support the development of the National Automated Access System, provide increased knowledge of local government freight network assets and support asset and road managers to improve road safety and productivity.

Who are we?

The Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP) began with Phase 1 in late 2019 with $7.96 million in grant funding from the Australian Government. Under Phase 1, 394 bridge and culvert assessments were completed.

Based on this success, an additional $12.1 million in funding was received in 2021 to continue the project over the next three years (Phase 2). Phase 2 commenced in January 2022 with a total of 698 bridge and culvert assessments being completed by the end of October 2024. 

A further round of funding of $6.55 million has been assigned to deliver Phase 3 across a further 2 years to 2026. Phase 3 commenced in December 2024.

Phase 3 - Focus areas

Asset assessments

The NHVR will work collaboratively with the state road authorities to identify and approach priority local governments in South Australia and Victoria. Phase 3 will focus on providing bridge and culvert assessments which will complement the civil/traffic asset engineering function that many local governments have in-house.    

A priority freight vehicle routes approach will be used, coupled with asset geolocation data to identify which assets lie on the local authority routes that have the highest importance to heavy vehicle access and the freight task.  

A proactive approach will be taken to engage with councils on identified assets. This will not preclude local government making asset nominations.

eLearn - Training and education for local government

To further support local government in their challenging role as road mangers, we are developing eLearning training and resources in a new program called Access Essentials.

Access Essentials is centred around capabilities relating to bridge capacity and access decision making and includes the following critical topics: 

• The Role of the Road Manager
• Bridge and Culvert Basics
• Key Bridge and Vehicle Calculations
• All about SLGAAP Asset Assessments  
• Key Tools and Approaches for Access Decision Making

Assessment guidelines

Through Phases 1 and 2 of the SLGAAP, the NHVR has developed a suite of guidelines to assist local governments 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.

The Asset Assessment Guide, which was developed by the NHVR to form the technical requirements for Phase 2 of the SLGAAP supplier contracts, is already being used by local councils to procure their own bridge and culvert assessments.

National Automated Access System (NAAS)

The National Automated Access System (NAAS) is being developed by state and territory road authorities to provide industry with greater access to pre-approved networks. 

The system is being developed to support a more automated approach to heavy vehicle access, reducing the reliance on manual, permit-based processes.

The NAAS builds on Tasmania’s proven Heavy Vehicle Access Management System (HVAMS), which has successfully operated for nearly a decade. The system is now being scaled nationally with progressive rollouts occurring across states and territories.

The NAAS works by matching any vehicle and load to the capacity of any road asset and the risk settings established by road managers. Access decisions are effectively pre-loaded, allowing the system to generate a map showing the roads available to a particular heavy vehicle based on the relevant access rules and asset information. This approach seeks to reduce the need for operators to obtain a permit and enable faster access decisions.

The NAAS is designed to integrate with a range of platforms and systems, such as NHVR Go and the Victorian Heavy Vehicle Structural Assessment Permit System (HVSAPS). 

The Strategic Local Government Asset Assessment Project (SLGAAP) is helping local governments capture the structural road data needed to meet these requirements and support the operation of the NAAS. 

Through Phase 3 of the SLGAAP program, the NHVR will accelerate the collection of local government asset data in Victoria and South Australia and make it available in a format suitable for use by various systems.

The program is overseen by a National Project Office hosted by Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) on behalf of all states and territories.

The NHVR is supporting the NAAS Program team and jurisdictions as NAAS is progressively developed and rolled out, including identifying opportunities to integrate NAAS with NHVR GO.

To find out more information on the NAAS, visit NAAS or contact the NAAS project team at naas.program@stategrowth.tas.gov.au. 

Asset Assessment Overview

Asset Capability Module

The Asset Capability Module is a self-service asset information system available via . Nearly 5000 assets have now been added to the Asset Module.

Priority Routes

SLGAAP Priority Heavy Vehicle Routes fact sheet (PDF, 299KB) - Priority Routes is a national map of heavy vehicle routes owned by local government, aimed at supporting the project in identifying and prioritising asset assessments.

This map is an important tool to ensure the project is funding engineering assessment for assets on priority routes that play a critical role in transporting freight and connecting regions and communities across Australia.

Vehicle Comparison Tool for Bridges (VCB)

To support access decision making by road managers and to improve heavy vehicle access to road infrastructure and to enhance the safety and productivity of supply chains, the NHVR have developed a Vehicle Comparison Tool for Bridges (VCB).

The VCB will provide the means to compare permit application vehicles against a pre-determined bridge capability with appropriate support.

The VCB will provide an interim means for local government to assess permit vehicle applications until the NAAS is rolled out.

For information on accessing the VCB contact the SLGAAP team.

Current project status

Phase 3 has commenced

For Phase 3 of the SLGAAP the NHVR will assist local government road managers to undertake capacity assessments of bridges and culverts on key routes for heavy vehicles in South Australia and Victoria.

In particular, the NHVR will undertake the collection of local government asset data in South Australia and Victoria suitable for a future National Automated Access System (NAAS). In addition, the NHVR will undertake the collection of local government asset data in New South Wales to support the Transport for New South Wales Automated Access Assessment Program (AAAP).

The data collection activities will be supplemented by numerical assessments (including Tier 1 and Tier 2 assessments) to support local government road managers with access decision-making in the near-term.

The local government areas and routes to be included in the program will be identified in collaboration with the respective state transport agencies and local government associations. It is expected that most local governments have an asset register containing asset names, unique identifiers, geolocation data (coordinates) and basic inventory information.

It is expected that suppliers will then work collaboratively with the NHVR and the local government, undertaking a combination of desktop and field inspections to expand the asset inventory information to cover all the necessary data suitable for the NAAS.

Completed assessment Phases and Rounds

Need help?

Our SLGAAP team is here to help with any enquiries and answer any technical questions you may have questions you may have.