NEWSLETTER N°82
November 2019

Dear readers,

The XXVIth World Road Congress, held in Abu Dhabi from 6 to 10 October 2019, provided an opportunity for participants from 144 countries, representatives of administrations, authorities, companies and academics, to share best practices in 62 sessions, 13 workshops and 6 technical visits. The exhibition hosted 26 national pavilions, a record, and more than 150 exhibitors.

One of the highlights of the PIARC Congress was the presentation of the work of the 1,200 experts who worked within the Association during the 2016-2019 cycle. Their recommendations can be found in 40 technical reports and 4 online manuals, which are already available on our website [...]

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A look back at the success of the XXVIth World Road Congress 

6 - 10 October 2019, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

Under the theme "Connecting Cultures, Enabling Economies", the XXVIth World Road Congress confirmed its role as a major event for the road sector worldwide. This event, organized by PIARC and the Abu Dhabi Department of Transportation (DoT), brought together more than 6,000 participants from 144 countries, more than 3,700 delegates and more than 40 ministers and deputy ministers from around the world to share their views, best policies and practices over five days. The Congress has included 62 sessions, 13 workshops and 6 technical visits.

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PIARC unveils its new identity and its new website! 

The World Road Association (PIARC) unveiled its new identity at the opening ceremony of the XXVI World Road Congress: a new name, PIARC, used in all languages and a new logo.

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PIARC is also pleased to unveil its brand-new website. In order to best meet visitors' expectations, it is more intuitive, adaptive and has new features.

>> Discover the new website

26th World Congress of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS): “Smart Mobility, Empowering Cities”

21 - 25 October 2019, Singapore (Singapore)

The 26th World Congress of Intelligent Transport Systems ("ITS") was held in Singapore from 21 to 25 October 2019. PIARC Secretary General had been invited to participate in the ministerial programme and spoke at two sessions: SIS 49 - Circular Economy and SIS 53 - What do citizens want.

For the Association, participating in major events of this kind is part of our partnership policy. This allows us to promote the Association, to absorb knowledge and projects of other organizations, and to share the knowledge developed in our expert groups. The Technical Committee on Road Network Operations, the Task Force on Automated Vehicles, and the Special Projects on Electric Roads and Electric Systems were thus highlighted. PIARC's concerns about road safety and resilience were also shared during this Congress, which attracted thousands of delegates around high-profile themes.

PIARC and TRB published a new webinar 

PIARC Technical Committee D.5 – Road Tunnel Operations has partnered with Transportation Research Board (TRB) to publish a recorded webinar. Join the webinar to hear Marc Tesson, President of TC D.5 for the 2016-2019 work cycle, gave an overview of the results and technical reports that are available from this committee; as well as Ingo Kaundinya, President for the coming work cycle 2020-2023, present the future work plans for the technical committee. Bijan Khaleghi, who is a member of the committee, presents some example on case studies and working methods of the group. The webinar was moderated by Bill Bergeson from the Federal Highway Administration, USA.

>> Access the webinar

A new work cycle 2020 – 2023 is being prepared

The World Road Congress provided the opportunity for an innovative handover meeting between the two PIARC work cycles. Indeed, our Association organizes its activities in a four-year cycle, according to a thematic program (the "Strategic Plan") that is the result of members' expressions of need.

2019 is thus the closing year for the 2016-2019 Technical Committees, and 2020 will be the launching year for the 2020-2023 Technical Committees. It is therefore essential to ensure a proper transfer of knowledge and practices, and that is why the General Secretariat organized this handover meeting, the first of its kind, in Abu Dhabi.

It involved the Strategic Planning Commission and the Chairs and Secretaries of the current and future Committees. Together, they were able to review the main lines of action for the coming years, the triple ambition of quality, flexibility and sharing, as well as working methods, quality processes and the general schedule of milestones for the coming four-year period.

VI Warmian-Masurian Forum (Poland) “Safe Roads of the Future”

September 22-24th, 2019, Mikolajki (Poland)

In 2019, the leading theme of the sixth edition of this conference was road safety. The conference was held on 23-24 September in Mikołajki. Year by year, the Forum in Warmia and Mazury is becoming more and more international. This year's papers and presentations were delivered by representatives of 6 countries - apart from Poland: Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Italy, and among the listeners there were also road people from Lithuania. In total, about 200 people took part in the conference.

Poland snowplough competition

Rodeo V4 is a competition of snowplough operators from the Visegrad Group countries. In previous years they were held in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, this year for the first time Poland was the host.

In the Rodeo V4 competition held on 28th October in Krakow, the first two places went to the drivers from Hungary. Poland took third place with Artur Sobczak.

Publications of the 2016-2019 cycle: a new catalogue 

On the occasion of the XXVIth World Road Congress in Abu Dhabi, PIARC has posted on its new website a catalogue of the technical reports produced by the 2016-2019 cycle committees. It currently includes more than 40 publications, nearly half of which were put online during the Congress and will be enriched with the latest reports from the cycle by the end of 2019. This catalogue is available here.

Positive Energy Roads: A PIARC special project 

This report analyses the potential for generating renewable energy in the road envelope (the right-of-way) to help address the energy requirements of road authorities, including a large variety of renewal energy sources (solar pavements and barriers, wind generation, geothermic…), their cost benefit analysis and their Technological Readiness Level.

>> Read the special project "Positive energy roads"

Best Practice Guide to Air Quality in relation to Road Operations 

This report will be of particular interest to road agency professionals and decision makers. While providing a range of case studies to reflect practical examples of assessment, management and mitigation, it also looks at the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to influence or lead the delivery of road-based mitigation [...]

>> Read the technical report