What Is a Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS)? Examples and When You Need One

A traffic guidance scheme (TGS) is a site-specific diagram that shows how vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians will be guided safely past a work area: which signs go where, the cones and tapers, barriers, traffic controllers, speed zones and vehicle positions. You need one whenever work on or beside a road or footpath changes how people normally move through it.

This guide explains what a TGS contains, shows common examples, covers who can prepare one and when you need it, and lists the mistakes we see most often on site. It is general information, not engineering or legal advice: a TGS must be prepared by a suitably qualified person for the specific road and job.

What a traffic guidance scheme actually is

Think of the TGS as the instruction sheet for the road. The crew building the site uses it to place every sign and device in the right order. The supervisor uses it to check the set-up. An auditor, council officer or road authority uses it to confirm that what is on the road matches what was planned and approved.

A TGS is not a general description of how traffic will be managed. That broader document is the traffic management plan, and we explain the split in traffic management plan vs TGS. The TGS is the drawing: specific, measurable and tied to one layout at one location (or one stage of a job).

You will still hear people call it a traffic control plan or TCP. That is the older term. The national Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (AGTTM) and most state documents now use TGS.

What a TGS shows

A well-drawn TGS answers every question a crew leader will ask while setting out the site. Most include:

• The road layout: lanes, kerbs, intersections, driveways, footpaths, bus stops, bike lanes and the direction of travel.
• The work area: where plant and workers will be, including the footprint of trucks, excavators or cranes.
• Advance warning signs: each sign drawn in position with its sign code or description and whether it applies to both directions.
• Tapers and delineation: merge or shift tapers, cone or bollard lines, and the termination at the end of the site.
• Buffer and safety zones: the space kept clear between the taper and the workers.
• Traffic controllers and devices: stop/slow positions, portable traffic lights, arrow boards, VMS boards and truck-mounted attenuators where required.
• Speed zone signs: any temporary speed limit and where it starts and ends.
• Pedestrian and cyclist routes: footpath closures, detours, ramps and temporary crossings.
• Notes: hours of use, conditions (for example "not to be used in peak periods"), plan reference and revision, and the designer's details.

The distances on the drawing (sign spacing, taper lengths, buffer lengths) are not decoration. They come from the tables in the applicable standard or guide for the road's speed and layout, and they are why a TGS for a 50 km/h suburban street looks very different from one for a high-speed rural road. Our article on how to read a TGS walks through the symbols and dimensions in detail.

Common TGS examples

Most work falls into a handful of layout types. The right one depends on the road, the speed, traffic volume, sight distance and how much of the road the work takes up.

Large jobs often need a series of TGSs, one for each stage, direction or shift. A night-time lane closure and a day-time shoulder closure on the same project are two different plans, and the crew must know which one is in force.

When you need a traffic guidance scheme

As a working rule, if your job will put people, plant or materials on or next to a road or footpath and change how traffic, cyclists or pedestrians normally use it, plan on needing a TGS. Typical triggers include:

• Occupying any part of a traffic lane, shoulder or parking lane.
• Closing or narrowing a footpath or cycleway.
• Plant or trucks reversing, loading or unloading from the road.
• Crane lifts, concrete pours or deliveries that stop or slow traffic.
• Utility works in the road reserve (water, gas, power, telecommunications).
• Events that close or restrict roads.

Approvals usually require one too. Councils commonly ask for a TGS with a road or footpath occupancy application. In NSW, work affecting state roads or traffic signals typically needs a Road Occupancy Licence, and the application includes the TGS; see what a Road Occupancy Licence is. Principal contractors will also want the TGS before they let your crew start.

There is a WHS side as well. Work on or next to a road used by traffic is high-risk construction work, so a safe work method statement (SWMS) is required before work starts, and the TGS is one of the main controls that SWMS relies on. Our guide to SWMS for traffic control covers how the two fit together. Safe Work Australia publishes general guidance on traffic management in construction at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

Which standard applies in your state

A TGS is designed to a specific standard or guide, and that depends on where the work is and who owns the road:

• National: the Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (AGTTM) is the national guide, adopted by states with their own supplements. AS 1742.3 covers traffic control devices for works on roads and is published through Standards Australia.
• NSW: on 25 June 2026 Transport for NSW replaced the Traffic Control at Work Sites Technical Manual (Issue 6.1) with the standard TS 05492:1.0 Traffic Control at Work Sites. It adds requirements on end-of-queue management, crash attenuators and temporary speed zoning. Councils and contracts may still reference older documents, so check which one your project specifies. Details are on the Transport for NSW website.
• Queensland: the state's MUTCD Part 3 and the Queensland Guide to Temporary Traffic Management, administered by Transport and Main Roads.
• Victoria: the Code of Practice for Worksite Safety – Traffic Management, which incorporates AGTTM.

Standards change, so always confirm the current version with the road authority before a plan is drawn or reused.

Who prepares and approves a TGS

A TGS must be prepared by a suitably qualified person. In NSW, that is generally someone who has completed the Prepare a Work Zone Traffic Management Plan (PWZTMP) training and holds the matching SafeWork NSW card. Crew members who set out and run the site to the plan hold the Implement Traffic Control Plans (ITCP) qualification. Other states have their own designer and implementer accreditation.

Approval is a separate step. Depending on the road and the job, the TGS may need sign-off from the council, the state road authority, a principal contractor, or a combination. Some councils and contractors keep pre-approved standard layouts for routine work, but someone qualified still has to confirm the standard plan genuinely fits the site.

Using the TGS on site

A TGS only protects people if it is followed. From an operations point of view, the routine on a well-run site looks like this:

1. Before the shift: the crew leader checks the TGS is the current revision, matches the job, permit and hours, and that all signs and devices on it are on the truck.
2. At the briefing: the crew walks through the TGS together, including set-up order, controller positions, radio channels and the escape route for each person.
3. Set-up: signs and devices go out in the order of travel, starting with the furthest advance warning sign, so drivers are warned before they meet anything new. Existing signs that conflict with the layout are covered.
4. Inspection: in NSW practice the traffic control is inspected at the start and end of every shift and at suitable intervals during it, plus weekly and after-care inspections, recorded on the project's forms.
5. Changes: if conditions change (queues, weather, a delivery arrives early) the crew leader checks whether the TGS allows the change; if not, work stops until the plan is revised by a qualified person.
6. Pack-down: devices come out in reverse order, so warning signs are the last things removed, and covered permanent signs are uncovered.

Our traffic control pre-start checklist turns the first two steps into a printable daily routine.

Common TGS mistakes and how to avoid them

These are the problems we see most often when a site doesn't match its plan:

• Wrong plan for the conditions. A day plan used at night, or a plan drawn for low traffic used in peak hour. Fix: check the notes and hours of use on every plan, every shift.
• Shortened tapers and spacing. Crews squeeze a layout to fit a driveway or intersection. Fix: if it won't fit as drawn, the TGS needs revising, not improvising.
• Missing or conflicting signs. A "road work ahead" sign left up after pack-down, or permanent speed signs left uncovered next to temporary ones. Fix: include sign covers on the equipment list and check them at pack-down.
• Pedestrians forgotten. The traffic side is perfect but the footpath detour is a gap between two fences. Fix: walk the pedestrian route yourself, including with a pram or wheelchair in mind.
• No record of changes. A sign moved for a truck and never moved back. Fix: record every deviation and re-inspect after it.
• Out-of-date revision on site. The office has revision C, the ute has revision A. Fix: one source of truth for documents, with the crew confirming the revision at the pre-start.

Next steps

If you are booking traffic control for a job, ask your provider early whether a TGS is included in the quote, who will prepare it, and what approvals and lead times apply. If you run a traffic control company, TrafWise keeps each shift's TGS, SWMS sign-off and pre-start together on the crew's phones so the plan on site is always the current one.