At Engagelink, we’re proud to collaborate with Gwydir Shire Council on an innovative project that’s transforming how freight route surveys are conducted. By leveraging our platform’s interactive mapping tools and AI-driven analysis, we’re making it easier to collect critical data and empower smarter decision-making for road funding and prioritisation.
The Challenge: Vast Roads, Limited Funding
Gwydir Shire faces a unique challenge: its small population and vast road network create funding disparities compared to councils in larger areas. As Alex Eddy, Director of Engineering Services, highlighted in a recent interview with ABC Radio, funding formulas often favour urban areas, leaving regional councils at a disadvantage.
For Gwydir, accurate data is the key to overcoming this hurdle. By capturing precise information on agricultural freight movements and road usage, the Council can develop credible business cases to compete for highly sought-after state and federal grants, such as the Flood Recovery and Resilience Program.
A Game-Changing Approach
This collaboration focuses on gathering detailed freight data from local farmers, including:
- The amount of agricultural produce leaving their farms.
- The inputs required for operations.
- The specific roads used to transport goods.
Unlike traditional traffic count data, this approach goes deeper, capturing essential details about freight types, origins, and destinations. This rich dataset provides a comprehensive view of the freight network, enabling more effective road maintenance prioritisation and funding applications.
How the Engagelink Platform is Helping
Our Engagelink platform integrates cutting-edge features to streamline the survey process and maximise community participation:
Interactive Mapping:
Making it easy for farmers to highlight key routes.AI-Driven Insights:
Automating data analysis to uncover actionable trends.Transparent Reporting:
Keeping the community informed through visual data displays.
By combining these tools, we’re helping Gwydir Shire Council turn community input into high-impact insights that can directly influence funding outcomes.
A Broader Impact
This innovative approach has already garnered attention, including a feature on ABC Radio New England North West Breakfast. As Alex Eddy explained, having this level of data allows the Council to create stronger business cases that stand out in competitive grant applications. It also provides the flexibility to model various scenarios, ensuring the roads targeted for funding align with state and federal priorities.
Participation is critical to the project’s success. As Eddy emphasised:
“The greater the participation from a particular area or a particular road, the greater chance there is that we’ll be in a position to evaluate upgrades and more involved maintenance.”
Join the Effort
If you’re a producer in Gwydir Shire, your input can make a real difference. By participating in the survey, you’re directly contributing to the future of the region’s road network. Visit the Council’s website or watch the promotional video to learn more.