NEWSLETTER N°97
May 2021

The Covid-19 crisis and its impacts on the road sector were analysed in depth by PIARC’s dedicated Response Team, which was able to publish an excellent in-depth report. It highlighted that roads are a major part of the transportation system and are an essential service. This is why roads have to play a role in the transition to sustainable mobility.

Innovation will be key. For example, better traffic management can alleviate congestion which can reduce GHG emissions. Data can help users make the proper transport and modal decisions, or let truck drivers know where showers are available, while virtual reality lets experts access work sites remotely, etc [...]

>> Read more

Join PIARC’s next virtual workshop on climate impacts and road resilience on 2 and 4 June! 

Do you want to increase your knowledge on how to make risk assessments and tackle them? If so, join to the upcoming virtual workshop on Climate Impacts and Road Resilience, organised by PIARC’s Technical Committee 1.4 Climate Change and Resilience of Road Networks on 2 and 4 June 2021.

The webinar is free and open to all, and will be conducted in English.

>>More information and registration

Register now: upcoming webinars on the impact of COVID-19 on roads and road transport on 3 and 30 June 

• "The impacts of Covid-19 on road projects": 3 June, 15:00 (CEST), free and open to all
• "The effects of Covid-19 on disaster management": 30 June, 17:00 (CEST), free and open to all

>> Read more

Save the date! 23 June: Webinar on DG-QRAM, PIARC's tool for risk assessment of dangerous goods transport in tunnels 

A webinar organised by PIARC and the French Tunnel Centre (CETU), will take place on 23 June 2021, from 1pm to 3pm Paris time, dedicated to the Dangerous Goods Transport Risk Assessment in Tunnels (DG-QRAM), a software developed by the Association with the support of several European countries. Widely used beyond the European borders, it is currently being updated and enriched with additional features. Its principles and new features will be presented by the system's developers. The webinar is free of charge and will be held in English.

>> Registration

>>More information on DG-QRAM

Tunnels, road safety, sustainable infrastructure... PIARC webinars were successfully held in May!

May 2021

The month of May was marked by some very productive and interesting international webinars organised by PIARC's international experts:

• "Road tunnels: recent trends, innovations and future prospects" (5 - 6 May 2021)
• "Sustainable roads and eco-infrastructures: new challenges in the context of energy and climate" (18 - 19 May 2021)
• "Road Safety in Low to Middle Income Countries: Specific Issues and Countermeasures" (18 - 20 May 2021)

The proceedings of these seminars will soon be available on our website. Stay tuned!

>> Note all our events

Focus on road safety at the 6th UN Global Road Safety Week 

17 - 23 May 2021

PIARC has once again highlighted the importance of road safety during the 6th edition of the United Nations Global Road Safety Week, from 17 to 23 May 2021.

PIARC Road Safety Manual, Technical Committees, international events... 

>> Find out more about PIARC's activity on this topic here!

International Transport Forum (ITF) Annual Summit: PIARC at the forefront 

17 - 28 May 2021

Dedicated to the theme of innovation in transport for sustainable development, the Summit was an opportunity for Claude Van Rooten, President of PIARC, to participate in the round table: "From advice to action: Transitioning to sustainable, equitable mobility".It was also an opportunity to have a virtual stand to promote PIARC and the XVI World Winter Service and Road Resilience Congress (7-11 February 2022).

>> Read more

Much progress and news at PIARC's Technical Committee on Tunnels 

27 - 30 April 2021

For its third meeting since the start of the 2020-2023 work cycle, Technical Committee 4.4 "Tunnels" met online on 27, 28 and 30 April 2021. During the sessions, they made progress on the organisation of a workshop to be held in Japan in November 2021 and on the organisation of the Tunnel Conference to be held in Spain in 2022, for which the call for abstracts is still open until 18 July 2021.

>> To find out more about them and their work

Watch again the webinar organised by the PIARC French National Committee on the contribution of ITS to road mobility in times of crisis 

8 April 2021

Co-organised by ATEC-ITS France and the PIARC French National Committee with the support of Cerema, the seminar highlighted the important role that Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have for road managers and road authorities in crisis management and network resilience.

>>You can watch the video here

DoRNs for CEDR Call 2021 published! 

DoRNs for two programmes within Call 2021 are available at the following links:

• Call 2021 Climate Change Resilience
• Call 2021 Remote Condition Monitoring of Physical Road Assets

Response to this invitation to participate: 19 July 2021

>> Read more

Damage and Deterioration Assessment Decision-Making for Highway Bridge Safety 

The objective of the report is two-fold:

• to provide an updated perspective on best practice damage assessment techniques used by bridge owners around the world and
• to produce a decision process [...]

>> Read it here

Prevention and Mitigation of Tunnel-Related Collisions 

The presented measures were derived from literature, experience of the Working Group members and an international survey of case studies of actual tunnel-related collisions. This survey was performed through interviews with tunnel operators and other experts in various countries [...]

>> Read it here

Use of recycled materials in pavements 

Back in 2003, PIARC published a report from Technical Committee C7/8 on “Pavement Recycling”. This report contains guidelines for in-place recycling with cement, emulsion or foamed bitumen and hot mix recycling in a plant.

The current literature review is part of a set of three publications [...]

>>Read it here