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TransportRoad and Highway DesignTraffic EngineeringTransport PlanningSouth Australia
From 3 - 5 September 2025, traffic and transport professionals from around Australia attended the National Transport Conference, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
South Australia is where the Tonkin business was born, and our head office remains – so we’re especially thrilled to be the major industry sponsor for this year's event.
Tonkin’s association with the Transport Professionals Association (formerly AITPM) dates back to 1987, when Tonkin engineer Barry Hagan formed the first South Australian chapter and became the Inaugural SA Branch President.
South Australia is where the Tonkin business was born, and our head office remains – so we’re especially thrilled to be the major industry sponsor for this year's event.
Tonkin’s association with the Transport Professionals Association (formerly AITPM) dates back to 1987, when Tonkin engineer Barry Hagan formed the first South Australian chapter and became the Inaugural SA Branch President.
Together with our company founder Skip Tonkin, Barry laid the groundwork that helped build Tonkin’s traffic and transport teams... and played a key role in advancing traffic management practice in South Australia.
Below are Insights on the conference from some of our key traffic and transport specialists.
Insights from James Arnold
"Helping plan the the National Transport Conference in Adelaide became so much more than just a professional event for me. It was a culmination of dedication from Adelaide's transport and TPA community, and seeing Tonkin at the heart of it filled me with immense pride.
This industry means a lot to me personally, and looking back on eight years of my career, it's hard to put into words just how meaningful it was to see everything come together so successfully.
This conference was a true reflection of passion, and I’m glad I was able to share that experience with my friends, peers, mentors, and those who’ve supported me along the journey."
This industry means a lot to me personally, and looking back on eight years of my career, it's hard to put into words just how meaningful it was to see everything come together so successfully.
This conference was a true reflection of passion, and I’m glad I was able to share that experience with my friends, peers, mentors, and those who’ve supported me along the journey."
Insights from John Devney
"I have attended several of the former AITPM transport conferences in my transport planning career since 2009, including those in Adelaide in 2009, 2014 and 2019. This year I was given the opportunity to be on the conference organising committee to plan for the international keynote speakers, review and select the abstracts for the presenters and develop the multi-streamed 3-day program.
My personal highlights from the 2025 TPA National Transport Conference were listening to the wise and learned advice from the keynote speakers, namely Giles Perkins of WSP UK with his “cathedral thinking”, Lucy Saunders about the practical applications of the Healthy Streets assessment tool and Skye Duncan of the Global Designing Cities Initiatives with her engaging talk with images about planning streets for people.
I was a presenter for a speed management workshop where we initiated group discussions about the potential for a 40 km/h speed limit on all local residential streets, instead of the current default speed limit of 50 km/h. I also provided my insights and lessons from conducting recent school travel safety reviews at a session about safer travel for school students.
I attended several sessions. The most memorable was the Forever Young workshop at which I participated in a group activity to plan a walk route to a primary school through the eyes and size of a 9-year old boy in Brisbane.
The networking opportunities were excellent throughout the conference. I attended many of them to meet former colleagues from interstate, some of the presenters from the sessions that I attended and the dinner and end of the day activities.
The conference in Adelaide in 2025 was definitely worth it with a lot of great memories from the wide range of technical sessions and networking. I thank Tonkin for the opportunity to be part of the conference which has advanced my knowledge on many transport topics about the latest trends, thinking and innovations."
My personal highlights from the 2025 TPA National Transport Conference were listening to the wise and learned advice from the keynote speakers, namely Giles Perkins of WSP UK with his “cathedral thinking”, Lucy Saunders about the practical applications of the Healthy Streets assessment tool and Skye Duncan of the Global Designing Cities Initiatives with her engaging talk with images about planning streets for people.
I was a presenter for a speed management workshop where we initiated group discussions about the potential for a 40 km/h speed limit on all local residential streets, instead of the current default speed limit of 50 km/h. I also provided my insights and lessons from conducting recent school travel safety reviews at a session about safer travel for school students.
I attended several sessions. The most memorable was the Forever Young workshop at which I participated in a group activity to plan a walk route to a primary school through the eyes and size of a 9-year old boy in Brisbane.
The networking opportunities were excellent throughout the conference. I attended many of them to meet former colleagues from interstate, some of the presenters from the sessions that I attended and the dinner and end of the day activities.
The conference in Adelaide in 2025 was definitely worth it with a lot of great memories from the wide range of technical sessions and networking. I thank Tonkin for the opportunity to be part of the conference which has advanced my knowledge on many transport topics about the latest trends, thinking and innovations."
Insights from Eli Alabaster
"Another National Transport Conference gone for another year! I first attended the Transport Professionals Association (formerly AITPM) national conference in Melbourne 2023. This was my first large conference I had attended and was a daunting task. I was 23 and knew very little people around me besides James (there were only ten SA representatives out of the 330 that delegates).
Fast forward to 2025, the conference was in Adelaide and Tonkin was the Major Sponsor for the event. With the event being hosted by our home state, I felt confident walking around the different rooms and bumping into many clients and colleagues from SA, and even some emerging professionals I met two years ago.
This conference was a meaningful event, not just to get in touch with like-minded people but to also hear the latest research and work in road safety and modelling that make our everyday lives better."
Fast forward to 2025, the conference was in Adelaide and Tonkin was the Major Sponsor for the event. With the event being hosted by our home state, I felt confident walking around the different rooms and bumping into many clients and colleagues from SA, and even some emerging professionals I met two years ago.
This conference was a meaningful event, not just to get in touch with like-minded people but to also hear the latest research and work in road safety and modelling that make our everyday lives better."
