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
- 01
Identify the design vehicle — the largest genuine regular user, setting your turning radii
- 02
Map entry and exit points against existing road traffic volumes
- 03
Run swept path analysis confirming forward entry and exit with no kerb strikes or lane encroachment
- 04
Verify compliance against AS 2890.2 and the relevant council DCP
- 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.
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.
Send us the drawings. We'll tell you what you need.
2. Plans, if they exist
3. A description of the works
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