The Intelligent Access Program (IAP) is a national program whereby heavy vehicle operators agree to remote tracking of the movement and location of their vehicles to ensure they are complying with agreed operating conditions, in return for access or less restrictive access to the road network.
Implementation of IAP is underway in other States, with NSW and Queensland linking IAP to Higher Mass Limits, and Tasmania proposing to use IAP to monitor contracted school bus services.
IAP is a vehicle tracking system to monitor heavy vehicles that may damage road infrastructure and/or pose road safety risks. Vehicles are monitored to ensure they adhere to approved routes, at approved times and are not operating on inappropriate roads.
Further details about IAP nationally are available at www.iap.gov.au.
The Intelligent Access Program (IAP) commenced in Victoria in November 2008.
Some operators of heavy mobile cranes and large freight carrying vehicles in Victoria have previously been required to install GPS monitoring devices. IAP is an enhancement of this requirement, providing a standard system for operators to demonstrate compliance with access requirements.
The use of IAP in Victoria as a condition of access to the road network will be based on an assessment of risk. Where the application of IAP will mitigate risks to safety or road infrastructure, IAP will be applied as a condition of access.
The following classes of vehicles have been evaluated and are required to participate in IAP:
- Mobile cranes that:
exceed the mass and dimension limits in the gazetted general permit for Special Purpose Vehicles(described in the VicRoads Oversize & Overmass Special Purpose Vehicles and have a permit that restricts travel to specific routes (ie. less access than the Higher Mass Limits (HML) network);
or
have a boom projection greater than 5.5 metres long.
- Concrete pump trucks operating under a permit above the gazetted mass limits for Special Purpose Vehicles.
Vehicles for which IAP is mandatory that are currently operating in Victoria under permit should be fitted to operate under IAP as soon as practical.
To assist this migration, a transitional period applies to allow operators time to source an IAP Service Provider, have vehicles fitted with an In Vehicle Unit and for monitoring to commence. The transition period will end on 30 April 2009.
During the transition period, vehicles will be allowed to operate without IAP. At the end of the transition period, vehicles will no longer be granted access to the road network unless they operate under IAP.
Under the recently released Victorian Freight Network Strategy, Freight Futures, IAP will be a condition of access for a trial of Next Generation Higher Productivity Freight Vehicles (HPFVs) in the ‘Green Triangle’ region of Western Victoria and key metropolitan freeways. HPFVs are vehicle configurations that are permitted to operate after gaining approvals through the national Performance-Based Standards (PBS) process. These vehicles must comply with approved safety and infrastructure protection performance measures.
The information booklet IAP: Victorian Implementation for Heavy Mobile Cranes and Concrete Pump Trucks (PDF, 468KB, 16pp) provides further information on what you need to do if your vehicle requires IAP.
Enquiries regarding IAP in Victoria should be emailed to iap@roads.vic.gov.au or contact Anna Kucher on
(03) 9854 2938.