Road Definitions

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This page provides an overview of Road Definitions applicable to Victorian councils. The work is not exhaustive, it is intended to provide the reader with insight into the subtlety different meaning associated with the term road and its classification.

It should be understood that a word defined in one area of law or document (e.g. an Act of Parliament) will have a consistent meaning for the purposes of that document, but may have a different meaning for the purposes of other documents.

Contents

Australian Standards

Australia and New Zealand standards provide definitions that extend across the jurisdictions of both countries and their respective states. However, as discussed in the Road Terminology Report road-related law is jurisdiction based; thus for Victorian Councils is subject to State legislation.

AS 4271.Y

The Australian Standard AS4271.Y "Geographic Information – Data Dictionary Part Y: Cadastre", defines

road
a corridor of land set aside for access purposes.

AS/NZS 4819:2003

The Australian/New Zealand Standard™ "Geographic information—Rural and urban addressing" AS/NZS 4819:2003[1] Defines the following roads:

Discontinuous Road
Clause 1.4.11
A road of the same name but not a practically continuous thoroughfare. A discontinuity by breakage in the cadastral delineation of the road or an impassable barrier or natural feature may exist along the road.
Private Road
Clause 1.4.23
A trafficable route with the right of passage restricted to the owner of the land and other persons possessing the consent of the owner(s).
NOTE: Also includes private rights of way and shared access lots deemed suitable for naming by

the relevant jurisdictional road naming authority.

Public Road
Clause 1.4.25
A road under appropriate land or road legislation and which the public is entitled, as of right, to use as a thoroughfare or access.
NOTE: A public road may or may not be formed or constructed.
Right of Way
Clause 1.4.27
An easement granted through a property for the means of gaining access to another property.
Freeways (motorways)
Clause 2.4.4
By definition, freeways are controlled access roads. Service centres, weighbridge stations, tollgates and utilities aiding emergency and other essential services shall be addressed to a freeway/motorway. No other address sites shall be addressed to a freeway/motorway.
State Highways
Clause 2.4.5 Undefined
Main Roads and Arterial Roads (Australia only)
Clause 2.4.6
Main roads are usually included in the relevant state authority’s classification system. See Vicmap definition for state classification.
Treatment of Secondary, Tourist and Regional Roads
Clause 2.4.7 Undefined
Local Roads
Clause 2.4.8
The term ‘local road’ refers to a road so classified by the relevant authority or to a road so called within the council road system.
Unconstructed Public Roads (see grid reference B1, Figure 2.4)
Clause 2.5.5.11
Although they may not be constructed or made roads, unconstructed public roads are legitimate access to fronting properties.

Vicmap

Vicmap Transport Product Specification Version 2.4 Appendix A defines a road and the classifications of a road as:

Road
An open way for the passage of vehicles, persons or animals on land.
and includes the following terms:
Access road, Alley, Boardwalk, Boulevard, Cart track, Causeway, Cul de sac, Cycle path, Divided highway, Driveway, Elevated highway, Express way, Farm track (N),Fire line, Fire track, Foot track, Footpath, Freeway, Highway, Horse trail, Maintenance track, Path, Pedestrian mall, Private road, Road on causeway, Service road
Road also includes the following entities
  • Road Segment
  • Ford
  • Bridge, includes: Bicycle bridge, Covered bridge, Draw bridge, Foot bridge, Lift bridge, Overpass, Pontoon bridge, Suspension bridge, Swing bridge, Viaduct
  • Tunnel, includes: Cattle underpass, Pedestrian underpass, Subway, Underpass
Freeway
Hard surface formation, high volume, high speed roads declared as “Freeway”; comprising dual carriageway and full access control and grade separated intersections; ie no direct access from adjoining properties or side roads and all crossings are by means of overpass or underpass bridges with traffic entering or leaving carriageways by means of ramps.
Single carriageway sections forming part of declared freeways may be included within this category.
Highway
Hard surface roads which:
  • Are of importance in a national sense, and/or
  • Are of a major interstate through route, and/or
  • Are principal connector roads between capitals and/or major regions and/or key towns.
Arterial
Well maintained and widely used hard surface formation roads which are major connectors between:
  • Freeways and/or National Highways, and/or
  • Major centres, and/or key towns, or
  • Have major tourist importance or
  • Which main function is to form the principle avenue of communication for metropolitan traffic movements, not catered for by freeways.
Sub-Arterial
Hard surface formation road, which acts as:
  • A connector between highways and/or arterial roads, or
  • An alternate route for class 2 roads, or
  • A principal avenue for massive traffic movements.
Collector Road
Hard surface or improved, loose surface formation road acting to:
  • Provide for traffic movement (connects class 3 to class 5), or
  • To distribute traffic to local street systems.
Local Road
Hard surface or improved, loose- surface formation road providing property access.
Track 2-Wheel Drive
Unimproved roads which are generally only passable in two wheel drive vehicles during fair weather and are used predominately by local traffic.
Also included are driveways regardless of construction.
Track 4-Wheel Drive
Unimproved roads which are generally only passable with four wheel drive vehicles.
Unknown
The road is depicted but the road class has not been defined nor determined.
Proposed Road
centreline alignments have been received from plans of subdivision or VicRoads and are yet to be constructed or

construction completed.

Walking Track
A pathway designed for traffic on foot.
Bicycle Path
A pathway allowing bicycle traffic in the main. This is not a shared road way with vehicular traffic.

Local Government Act

The Local Government Act defines both a road and a public highway

Part 1 Section 3

public highway is a road which is open to the public for traffic as a right, irrespective of whether the road is in fact open to traffic, and includes a road—
(a) declared to be a public highway under section 204(1) or under any other Act;
(b) which becomes a public highway under section 24(2)(c) of the Subdivision Act 1988;
(c) which is a public road under the Road Management Act 2004;
road includes—
(a) a street; and
(b) a right of way; and
(c) any land reserved or proclaimed as a street or road under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 or the Land Act 1958; and
(ca) a public road under the Road Management Act 2004; and
(d) a passage; and
(e) a cul de sac; and
(f) a by-pass; and
(g) a bridge or ford; and
(h) a footpath, bicycle path or nature strip; and
(i) any culvert or kerbing or other land or works forming part of the road;
(2) For the purposes of—
(a) the performance of the functions or the exercise of the powers of a Council; and
(b) any proceedings for offences under the Transport Act 1983, the Road Management Act 2004 or the Road Safety Act 1986—
road includes a shopping mall.

Road Management Act

The Road Management Act 2004 (RMA)

3 Definitions
(1) In this Act—
arterial road
means a road which is declared to be an arterial road under section 14;
controlled access road
means a public road in respect of which a declaration is in force under section 42;
freeway
means a road declared to be a freeway under section 14
municipal road
means any road which is not a State road, including any road which—
(a) is a road referred to in section 205 of the Local Government Act 1989; or
(b) is a road declared by VicRoads to be a municipal road under section 14(1)(b); or
(c) is part of a Crown land reserve under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 and has the relevant municipal council as the committee of management;
non-arterial State road
means a State road which is not a freeway or an arterial road;
pathway
means a footpath, bicycle path or other area constructed or developed by a responsible road authority for use by members of the public other than with a motor vehicle but does not include any path—
(a) which has not been constructed by a responsible road authority; or
(b) which connects to other land;
Examples
A footpath or bicycle path constructed on a road reserve by a responsible road authority for use by the general public would be a pathway.
A foot trodden track over roadside land or a path that connects from a roadway or footpath to privately owned land would not be a pathway.
public highway
means any area of land that is a highway for the purposes of the common law;
public road
means a public road within the meaning of section 17;
road includes—
(a) any public highway;
(b) any ancillary area;
(c) any land declared to be a road under section 11 or forming part of a public highway or ancillary area;
roadway means—
(a) in the case of a public road, the area of the public road that is open to or used by members of the public and is developed by a road authority for the driving or riding of motor vehicles;
(b) in the case of any other road, the area of the road within the meaning of road in section 3(1) of the Road Safety Act 1986-but does not include a driveway providing access to the public road or other road from adjoining land;
State road
means a road which—
(a) is a freeway or arterial road; or
(b) is declared to be a non-arterial State road under this Act; or
(c) is the responsibility of a State road authority under another Act;

Geographic Place Names Act

The Geographic Place Names Act 1998 makes provision for the naming of places and the registration of place names and in so doing amends the Local Government Act 1989. The GPN Act applies to the naming of roads but only defines the term in it broadest sense.

3 Definitions
In this Act—
place
means any place or building that is, or is likely to be, of public or historical interest and includes, but is not restricted to—
(a) township, area, park, garden, reserve of land, suburb and locality;
(b) topographical feature, including undersea feature;
(c) street, road, transport station, government school, government hospital and government nursing home;
Street and road are not defined by the Act.

Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria

The Guidelines for Geographic Names Victoria, Principles Policies Procedures, October 2004 is subordinate legislation made under the GPN Act and, as such, its terminology must be consistent with that of the GPN Act itself.

Street and road are not defined by the Guidelines and are therefore assumed to have the same meaning as the Geographic Place Names Act 1998.

Road Safety Act

The Road Safety Act 1986 provides the Governor in Council with powers to declare any place a road:

3 Definitions
In this Act—
highway
means road or road related area;
road
means—
(a) an area that is open to or used by the public and is developed for, or has as one of its main uses, the driving or riding of motor vehicles; or
(b) a place that is a road by virtue of a declaration under subsection (2)(a)— but does not include a place that is not a road by virtue of a declaration under subsection (2)(a);
Where subsection (2)(a) states
(2) The Governor in Council may by Order published in the Government Gazette—
(a) declare any place or class of places, whether open to vehicles or not, to be or not to be a road or roads or a road related area or road related areas for the purposes of this Act;

Discussion

The above definitions provide an insight into the complexity of the road definition terminology. David Gabriel-Jones provides a commentary on these definition in the Road Terminology Report.

In respect of Local Government data custodianship with the goal of providing quality road name data for location based services then Vicmap offers the most comprehensive perspective on road terminology. However, some of its requirements go beyond councils' responsibility under either the Local Government Act (LGA) and the Road Management Act (RMA), in particular, the requirement to specify the following as spatial objects of class road:

  • Cart track,
  • Driveway,
  • Farm track (N),
  • Fire line,
  • Fire track,
  • Foot track,
  • Horse trail,
  • Maintenance track,
  • Path,
  • Private road,
    none of which form part of the current local government obligations in respect of roads.

With the exception of Private roads, which are discussed in a later section, it is recommended that the LGA definitions form the basis of the adopted definition. The road corridor would then represent the physical extent of the road as defined by the LGA.

The property custodianship paper proposed a property layer model comprised of two types of land entities, properties and corridors, effectively tiling the whole cadastral property layer in a mosaic of either property polygons or corridor polygons. The concept of the corridor in the property layer is consistent with the AS4271 definition of a road as a corridor for access. However, in the proposed property layer a corridor is not restricted to roads and includes rail and water etc.


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References

  1. ↑ Standards Australia 2006 Australian/New Zealand Standard™ "Geographic information—Rural and urban addressing", First published as AS/NZS 4819:2003, Reissued incorporating Amendment No. 1 (October 2006).
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