Solutions in Transport - early history with the Generic TGS
Two decades ago, Dan assisted a regional local council in the Western Australia Mid-west region in how they could provide best practice temporary traffic management treatments at their maintenance worksites on their rural road network.
All of their roads had a 110km/h speed limit and they already had two TGS for works either beside the road, or in the lane. We called these Set 1.
The Council Engineer, his draftsperson and I hopped in the car to drive 400km of the network. As we came to an intersection we stopped and sketched additional diagrams for works either side of the intersection or in the intersection itself. I used my highlighted pen to place a pink dot on the plan of the route and wrote Set 2 at the intersection. As we continued, we did the same for every other change of road environment or intersection we passed.
Eight hours later we had 12 sets of TGS diagrams and a map showing where to use each one. This became our TGS library and the selection process. This is the basis of the process that Solution in Transport has built on for the program today.
QLD Adoption of the Generic TGS
The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads previously published in the MUTCD a series of diagrams that were understood as "standard" diagram layouts, and which were widely used by industry.
In the mid 2010's DTMR removed these diagrams from the MUTCD and temporarily repurposed them as example diagrams for use by Traffic Management Designers (TMDs) which were not for use on site. At the same time DTMR started an industry wide conversation around the role and purpose of Generic TGS diagrams within the industry and noted in particular their application for routine and repetitive maintenance and minor works on and near roads.
Solutions in Transport assisted the department in developing the concept based on the WA rural council example Dan presented in a series of workshops with QLD local governments. Following the development of a case example, the department formally adopted and supported the use of generic TGS diagrams.
National Adoption of the Generic TGS
As Project Manager for the Austroads Safety at Road Worksites project and the Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management, Dan further developed with the project working group the concepts around Generic TGS diagrams. This concept has now been published in the AGTTM (Part 8) and is supported by all States and Territories.
