The Road Impact Assessment was analysed using Average Annual Daily Traffic counts (AADT’s) supplied by TMR, along the Flinders and Barkly Highways for 2009, for all vehicles, and for light vehicles and heavy vehicles. Indicators of likely increases in Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA’s) were calculated to review the pavement impact based upon a worse case model scenario. The traffic counts were tabulated to conform to the TMR standards for assessment of the spatial extent of impact providing the number of heavy vehicles being road trains using the freight corridor. Then the volume of materials and worker movements required for the Project construction period were modelled to provide individual occurrence by activity and aggregated totals to provide traffic impacts for comparison against the existing road usage with and without the development scenarios.
? Fieldwork site visit inspections carried out in August and September 2010 in order to make assessments of road pavement conditions and intersections with the main highways accessing the Project region. The field inspections were undertaken to assess the current condition of the infrastructure available and to identify any deficiencies or problems that might impinge on the project including road formations, surfaces, intersections, signage, railway crossings, accident and safety aspects, capacity to take wide loads, rest areas and fatigue management. Views of current major road users were sought along with Departmental, Local Government and community views on these aspects.
