Transport Australia Fellows turn $4.6 billion industry challenge into national digital solution

A research project developed through the Transport Australia Fellowship has become a national digital platform helping major infrastructure projects reduce utility strikes, improve safety and lift productivity.

The idea began when a team of emerging transport leaders set out to solve one of construction’s most persistent problems: accessing accurate underground utility information before work begins.

Their proposal has since evolved into the Before You Dig Australia Digital Utility Portal, which centralises underground utility data so planners, designers and contractors can identify buried infrastructure faster and make better decisions before construction starts.

The platform is now being piloted across Brisbane’s Olympic infrastructure program and major projects in Western Sydney and Perth.

More than 15,000 underground utility strikes are reported in Australia each year, costing the economy an estimated $4.6 billion through project delays, service outages and lost productivity.

The portal could save industry an estimated $22 million and 180,000 working hours each year.

Transport Australia Fellow Clarissa Ahlberg, Highway Team Lead at HDR, said the way underground utility information is shared has changed little since the 1980s.

“A design engineer could spend a week manually interpreting up to 100 pages of maps to understand what is underground at a single location,” Ms Ahlberg said.

“The portal can complete the same task in about an hour. We wanted to develop something practical that would make everyday work safer, faster and more productive across the industry.”

Ho Yee Ryan, Senior Associate – Transport at BG&E – part of SYSTRA said, “The five of us all had the same frustration. To see our solution now become a tool the whole industry can use, that’s a pretty good feeling.”

Transport Australia’s Fellowship Program brings together emerging transport professionals from across Australia and New Zealand to build leadership capability, expand industry networks and tackle real-world policy challenges. Fellows gain access to senior leaders, practical industry experiences and cross-sector collaboration, while contributing fresh ideas to help shape the future of transport.

Transport Australia CEO Ehssan Veiszadeh said the project demonstrated the value of bringing emerging leaders together to solve real industry challenges.

“This is the Transport Australia Fellowship at its best: talented people working across organisational boundaries to develop practical solutions for the sector,” Mr Veiszadeh said.

“Every utility strike can stop a project, disrupt communities and increase costs. Better information means safer worksites, more productive delivery and better value from infrastructure investment.

“Transport lifts Australia. Giving our future leaders the opportunity to shape better ways of working will help build a safer, more resilient and more productive transport system.”

The Fellows behind the project are Clarissa Ahlberg, QLD Highways Team Lead at HDR; Ho Yee Ryan, Associate Civil Engineer at BG&E – part of SYSTRA; Anita Mumford, Principal Civil Engineer at AECOM; Brendan Rutter, Technical Director at Mott MacDonald and Georgia Robazza, Head of Commercial and Major Investment, TasNetworks.

Their research attracted early support from Before You Dig Australia (BYDA), which was exploring similar digital capabilities. Working with industry, utility owners and government, the concept was developed into the BYDA Digital Utility Portal.

BYDA CEO Mell Greenall said the Fellows’ work helped accelerate the platform.

“Most people never think about what is beneath the ground until something goes wrong,” Ms Greenall said.

“The Fellows brought us strong research and a practical industry case. That work helped build momentum for a platform that can support better decisions before anyone picks up a shovel.”

Applications for the 2027 Fellowship open 3 August. The program brings together emerging transport leaders from across Australia to investigate major industry challenges, facilitates mentoring from senior executive leaders, and build productive and active networks across the sector.

Application link: Transport Australia Fellowship