Fitzroy Crossing Bridge Collapse

Using Connected Vehicle data to understand how flooding impacted freight movements.

During heavy flooding in the Kimberly region, the Fitzroy Crossing bridge collapsed. The bridge forms part of the Great Northern Highway - a strategic freight link between Perth and the North of Western Australia, leading into the Northern Territory.

Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) wanted to understand:

• How flooding and subsequent collapse of the crossing were impacting inland freight routes
• What alternative routes heavy vehicle freight were using to avoid flooding
• Whether these alternative routes needed to be upgraded to accommodate heavier vehicles.

Visualised freight origin-destination data showing that HCVs had to turn around at the approach to the crossing:

Using visualised heavy vehicle trip data, MRWA was able to determine that flooding prevented HCVs using the Fitzroy Crossing. True vehicle pathing data also identified that freight vehicles had no alternative route.