NEWSLETTER N°93
January 2021

Dear colleagues and friends,

PIARC, Transport Canada, and the City of Calgary have decided that the XVI World Winter Service and Road Resilience Congress will be held in digital format, in February 2022.

As you know, PIARC Congresses have been very successful over the years and they are a cherished tradition. However, it became apparent that due to the pandemic, the ability to attend an international congress may be reduced for many, if not most, member countries and PIARC’s partners/stakeholders. As a result, a unique platform will be set up to enable a full virtual event to be held in times of a pandemic. It will allow decision-makers as well as technical experts, road authorities and administrators, operators, equipment manufacturers and engineers [...]

>> Read more

The XVI World Winter Service and Road Resilience Congress shifts to a virtual format! The deadline of the call for abstracts is extended to 28 February 2021 

Due to the ongoing crisis, the PIARC Executive Committee has decided to make the XVI World Congress on Winter Road Service and Road Resilience in 2022 in Calgary virtual. This of course entails many changes, including a one-month extension of the call for abstracts.

>> Visit the Calgary 2022 website for more information

On the road to 2021 with PIARC! 

This is a good time to look back on PIARC's accomplishments over the past year. The year 2020 has been full of challenges for all of us, but we have been able to face the difficulties! We look forward to accomplishing much more together in the coming years!

>> Discover all the key moments of 2020 and those planned for 2021

PIARC participated in the 100th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 

21-29 January 2021

As every year, PIARC was present at this meeting. Due to the pandemic, the event was held online, and attracted more than 20,000 delegates. PIARC participated with a booth where team members presented the activities of the Association, as well as the XVI World Winter Service and Road Resilience Congress in Calgary in 2022.

In addition, several experts from PIARC Committees participated in sessions. They included Christos Xenophontos, Ingo Kaudinya, Anna Arvidsson and many others.

As always, this was an excellent opportunity to showcase the work of PIARC, and to interact with the U.S. community.

>> More information

A fruitful meeting of the PIARC Board 

10 December 2020

PIARC Board members met online to look back on the achievements of the year 2020 and discuss the results of the special projects "Road Related Data and How to Use It" and "Impact of Overloaded Vehicles on Road Infrastructure and Road Safety".

>> More about the Council

>> Special project "Road related data and how to use it"

>> Special project "Impact of Overweight Vehicles on Road Infrastructure and Road Safety" (soon available)

Numerous meetings of PIARC Technical Committees and Task Forces 

PIARC's 17 Technical Committees and 6 Task Forces met in the second half of 2020 to continue their work as part of the 2020-2023 work cycle after the kick-off meetings in early 2020.

In light of the COVID crisis, these meetings were held by teleconference. Each Committee was able to adjust to this mode of work and make progress in the production of its analyses and surveys.

>> Read more about their work

Changes in the direction of PIARC's Communication Commission! 

PIARC is pleased to announce the appointment of new officers for its Communication Commission. Congratulations to Claudine Tremblay, the new President, and to Sheena Carrigan, Vice-President!

>> Learn more about them

Alliance between CAF and PIARC to promote quality road infrastructure in Latin America 

December 2020

In order to promote and disseminate best practices in the road sector, both public and private, CAF - Latin American Development Bank - and PIARC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen their cooperation and create the best conditions for developing quality road infrastructure and improving its management in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

>> Learn more

CEDR's 2020 Call for Research is open! 

The CEDR (Conference of European Road Directors) has launched its 2020 call for research projects on two themes: the impact of connected and automated vehicles (CAD) on intelligent and safe roads, and on resource efficiency and circular economy. CEDR's 2020 call for proposals is open until February 26, 2021 at 12:00 CET.

>> Full details of the call are available here

The 55th Annual Conference of the Association québécoise des transports (AQTr) 

2 - 6 November 2020

This event, organized this year in virtual format, took place from Monday, November 2 to Friday, November 6, 2020. Each day, four thematic rooms in parallel offered conferences on topics as varied as transportation infrastructures, security, artificial intelligence and transportation, electrification, etc.

More than 2,000 people registered for the Virtual Congress and 600 participants took part daily in the Congress.

>> Read more

Routes/Roads 387: "Roads and Landscapes" 

This issue of Routes/Roads, prepared with the assistance of Kajsa Ström, landscape architect at the Swedish Road Administration and former Technical Advisor at PIARC's General Secretariat, aims to show, through a series of eight articles, mainly from Scandinavia and the United States [...]

>> Read it here

Principles for Cooperation and Collaboration between National and Local Road Agencies 

This report analyses general areas of cooperation amongst road authorities at the various levels and the various institutional tools utilised to ensure integration. The need for cooperation between national, federal, provincial, state, local and municipal [...]

>> Read more

Technical and Economic Considerations of Bridge Rehabilitation Methods 

Bridge park managers are concerned about failures. The main concerns are the degradation of bridge components due to aging, accidents and other factors. This is assessed by the Bridge Condition Index.

But bridge managers must also be concerned about the evolution [...]

>> Read the report