Worked Example: A Driveway Crossover Pour on a Busy Collector Road

Driveway crossover traffic control on a busy collector road usually means a footpath detour, a protected standing area for the concrete truck and controllers managing the traffic lane during the pour. The cost depends mostly on how long the crew waits, so the plan, the agitator's position and the pour time should be settled before anyone books.

This article walks through an example crossover pour from permit to curing, with the costs a client should expect to see on a quote. It is a teaching scenario, not a real job. Your council permit and approved traffic guidance scheme (TGS) set the actual requirements, and the TGS must be prepared by a suitably qualified person. This is general information, not legal or engineering advice. If you are not sure you need traffic control at all, start with traffic control for driveways and small jobs.

The example job

Example scenario: a homeowner is replacing a cracked driveway crossover (the section between the property boundary and the road, including the kerb layback). The house is on a two-lane collector road with a parking lane on each side, a bus route and steady traffic through the day. The footpath outside the house is the main walking route to a shopping strip. A concreter has quoted the job: day one to demolish, excavate and form up; day two to pour.

The council has issued a crossover permit. Its conditions require an approved TGS for any work that occupies the road or footpath, and a safe pedestrian route at all times.

Step 1: settle the plan before asking for quotes

The concreter, the homeowner and the traffic control company need answers to these questions before a quote means anything:

Sorting this out first is the difference between a fixed, comparable quote and a guess. Our driveway and kerb works approvals checklist covers the permits side.

Step 2: getting comparable quotes

Send every provider the same scope: address, permit conditions, dates, times, vehicle positions and footpath arrangement. Then compare line by line. Our traffic control quote checklist is a good template. For this job, the items that matter most are:

• Rate per controller per hour for the day and time of the work.
• Minimum hours per controller and for the vehicle. Minimums of four hours per controller are common, often more for vehicles and operators. Our guide to minimum shift charges explains why.
• The plan. Is the TGS included, and does the price change if the council asks for changes?
• Waiting time. How is it charged if the concrete is late?
• Cancellation. What happens if rain cancels the pour the afternoon before, or on the morning?
• Equipment. Pedestrian barriers, signs and cones are often included; check.

Step 3: an example cost calculation

Indicative client prices are about $70 to $100 or more per traffic controller per hour, higher at night, weekends and public holidays, and they vary by provider, location and job. The calculation below uses a hypothetical rate of $90 per controller per hour to show how the numbers work. It is not a price.

The difference between the first two rows is purely waiting. Booking the first load at the start of the shift, and confirming it with the batching plant the afternoon before, is the cheapest way to keep the price down. A TGS, travel or a vehicle charge may be added on top, depending on the provider. You can model your own job with the free shift cost calculator.

Step 4: pour day, step by step

Here is how pour day plays out on a typical job.

1. Crew arrives before the concreter's start time, completes the pre-start and SWMS sign-on. Work next to a road used by traffic is high-risk construction work, so a SWMS is required.
2. Advance warning signs go up in the direction of traffic, at the positions on the TGS.
3. Parking lane closure in front of the house with cones per the TGS, creating the agitator's standing area. Any parked cars are dealt with under the council permit process; the crew does not move them.
4. Footpath closure and pedestrian route set up with barriers, checked for prams and wheelchairs.
5. Controller stations: TC 1 upstream to manage traffic as the agitator arrives and stands partly in the lane; TC 2 at the pedestrian route and as spotter for the truck.
6. Agitator called in from around the corner. TC 1 holds the traffic lane briefly while it positions; TC 2 spots. Radio: "Truck positioning, hold your lane." "Holding." "Truck set, release."
7. The pour. Traffic flows past in the remaining lane width as the TGS allows; if the TGS requires the lane to be held or narrowed during the pour, controllers manage it.
8. Truck washes out at the place the concreter has arranged, not into the gutter.
9. Truck leaves; TC 1 holds traffic while it pulls out.
10. Protection for the fresh concrete: barriers or mesh fencing around the crossover, and the pedestrian route left in place as the TGS and permit specify.
11. Pack-down of the advance signs and parking lane closure; the supervisor records what is left on site.

What goes wrong in this example, and the fix

• The batching plant runs late. The crew waits. The concreter rings the plant and gets an arrival time, and the controllers keep the site set up. The waiting time is recorded on the docket, signed by the concreter, so the invoice matches the quote's waiting-time terms.
• A bus cannot get past the agitator because a car is parked on the opposite side. TC 1 holds traffic in both directions so the bus can use the opposite lane past the truck, if the TGS allows a stop/slow arrangement. If it does not, the supervisor calls the designer before trying anything new.
• A pedestrian with a pram walks onto the formwork because the detour barrier has a gap. TC 2 closes the gap and redirects. Checking the pedestrian route is part of every inspection.
• The homeowner wants to drive out before the concrete has cured. The concreter tells them when the crossover can take a car. The traffic crew does not make that call.

Common booking mistakes on small pours

Small jobs go wrong in predictable ways, and most of the cost surprises come from the booking rather than the work:

• Booking traffic control for "the morning". Give a start time tied to the first load, and tell the provider the concreter's real start time, so the crew is set up before the truck arrives but not paid to wait for an hour.
• Forgetting day one. Demolition and spoil removal often need the same set-up as the pour. If the tipper loads from the parking lane, ask whether the TGS covers it and book controllers for that window too.
• Not mentioning the bus route or the shopping strip. These change the plan and the crew size. A quote based on a quiet street will not survive the first look at the site.
• Leaving the footpath to sort itself out. The pedestrian route is part of the TGS. If it is not on the plan, it will not be on site.
• No weather plan. Ask what happens if the pour is cancelled the afternoon before, and what happens if rain starts after the crew is on site. Cancellation terms vary between providers.
• Paying an invoice you cannot check. Ask for dockets signed on site with start, finish and any waiting time, so the invoice can be matched to the shift.

After the crew leaves: curing and the footpath

The pour may be finished by lunch, but the concrete needs days to cure before it can carry a car, and the footpath across it is closed until it can carry people. The council's permit and the TGS should cover the arrangement left in place: barriers around the crossover, a clear, accessible pedestrian route and any signs. Someone must check it is still standing after wind, rain or curious neighbours. Agree in writing who that is, and who removes it.

For council rules, contact your council. In NSW, Transport for NSW's TS 05492 Traffic Control at Work Sites is the current state standard; see Transport for NSW. WHS requirements for high-risk construction work are on SafeWork NSW.

Next steps

Before you ring for quotes, decide where the truck will stand and when the first load will arrive, then send every provider the same scope. If you run a traffic control company, TrafWise gives clients a booking link and records signed digital dockets so waiting time is clear on the invoice.