Dear readers,

The call for papers that we have organized for the XXVI World Road Congress is now closed and we can inform you that more than 400 full papers have been submitted for the 41 themes covered. They are currently being reviewed by our Technical Committees and Task Forces and we will soon contact individual authors to let them know if they are invited to make a presentation. All accepted papers will also be presented in one of our interactive poster sessions - these are an integral part of the program and provide authors with an excellent opportunity to present and discuss their work and conclusions with various participants. The best communications are also analysed by our International Jury, which will identify the winners of our Competition in October. In addition, we will offer 12 workshops and 13 foresight sessions, organised with our partners, and 5 strategic sessions organised by our strategic theme coordinators. The exhibition is also growing, with 13 confirmed national pavilions and more to come. Some locations are still available - you can contact wrc2019@aipcrabudhabi2019.org and book a stand to showcase your company's or country's achievements and products.

PIARC is very proud of these excellent indicators. Through the call for papers and the work of our technical experts and member countries, as well as the support of our partners, Congress delegates will be able to benefit from lively discussions on a wide range of issues, such as digitisation and its effects on the performance of transport administrations, mobility as a service and the changing role of road network operators, best practices in road asset management, damage assessment on bridges, etc. I encourage all road experts and practitioners, infrastructure operators and owners, engineering and consulting companies, ministries and universities to join us in Abu Dhabi from 6 to 10 October. Take advantage of the preferential rate, which expires on June 2, and join delegates from more than 60 countries that have already registered.

If you would like to stay informed of all developments related to the World Road Association or the Congress, you can visit the Association's dedicated website at www.piarcabudhabi2019.org, and follow us on LinkedIn at "World Road Association PIARC". We also share news and updates very regularly on Twitter and it is a great way to keep up to date on PIARC news and road topics in general: you can follow us at @PIARC_Roads, follow the Abu Dhabi Department of Transportation at @PIARCabudhabi2019 and follow #PIARCWRC2019 and #WorldRoadCongress.

Sincerely,

Claude Van Rooten