Parking, access and swept paths

Vehicle access assessment

Get this wrong and a truck can't reach your loading dock.

A Vehicle Access Assessment reviews how every vehicle type expected on your site — from passenger cars to B-doubles — enters, moves through, and exits safely. It brings driveway design, swept path analysis, and sightlines together into one access-focused review, and it's essential wherever heavy vehicles are part of the picture.

What the assessment considers

The required vehicle-access geometry depends on the actual vehicles using the site, the frequency of use, road environment, internal layout and applicable authority requirements.

  • Largest regular design vehicle

  • Occasional check vehicles

  • Entry and exit movements

  • Forward-in and forward-out requirements

  • Driveway width and alignment

  • Internal turning and circulation

  • Ramp grades and transitions

  • Vertical clearance

  • Loading and waste collection

  • Emergency-vehicle access

  • Conflicts with pedestrians and other vehicles

  • Swept-path clearance from kerbs, walls, gates and structures

Vehicle templates and dimensional requirements are confirmed for each project rather than applied as universal website figures.

Our process

  1. 01

    Identify the design vehicle — the largest genuine regular user, setting your turning radii

  2. 02

    Map entry and exit points against existing road traffic volumes

  3. 03

    Run swept path analysis confirming forward entry and exit with no kerb strikes or lane encroachment

  4. 04

    Verify compliance against AS 2890.2 and the relevant council DCP

  5. 05

    Document everything in a TIA as formal supporting evidence

The design vehicle's full footprint — chassis overhang and trailer cut-in on turns — has to clear kerbs, gateposts and fixed infrastructure. Skipping that step is how sites end up built with a loading dock a truck literally can't reach.

PROC 01—04

How the engagement moves

From enquiry to controlled issue
  1. Step 01Send the project

    Provide the site, available drawings and the issue that needs resolving.

  2. Step 02Confirm the scope

    We identify the required assessment, documentation, programme and fee.

  3. Step 03Assess and coordinate

    The technical work is developed against the project and authority requirements.

  4. Step 04Check and issue

    The agreed review is completed before controlled issue and support through comments.

FAQ

Common questions

How is this different from Driveway Design?

Driveway Design is the entry and exit point itself. This is the whole journey — internal circulation and conflict points included.

Does it cover waste and emergency vehicle access?

Yes — the full range of vehicles servicing the site, not just standard deliveries.

How does AS 2890.2 differ from AS 2890.1?

2890.1 is light vehicles; 2890.2 is commercial and industrial, with larger templates and stricter ramp grades for trucks.

Do I need this for every commercial site?

Most critical where heavy vehicles or multiple, complex access points are involved — simpler light-vehicle-only sites need a lighter touch.

Related pages
Swept path analysis →
Parking, access and swept paths

Send us the drawings. We'll tell you what you need.

Request a fee proposal

Send us the drawings. We'll tell you what you need — a written scope and fixed fee come back to you.

Attach plans

Your details and files are used only to scope and respond to this enquiry. We don't add you to a mailing list or share your information.


Capability statement

Tell us where to send it and the capability statement comes to your inbox — services, standards, the register of people, and how an engagement runs.

What to send
1. Site address
2. Plans, if they exist
3. A description of the works
Sightline Traffic EngineersContact
1800 008 782
plans@sightlinetraffic.com.au
Suite 413, 388 George St, Sydney NSW 2000
Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm
ABN 16 699 960 668