Environment and Construction of Road Projects

One work area of the PIARC Committee on the Environment concerns the consequences of the construction of road projects. In July 1997, an inquiry was sent to all PIARC member countries. It dealt with the five major topics identified by the Working Group: soil and water protection; how to deal with contaminated land; recycling of used materials; how to take account of flora, fauna, archaeology, water and noise; work sites. This report contains the answers from twenty respondents and provides recommendations [...]

Road Safety Audits

A Road Safety Audit is a formal systematic road safety assessment of the road or road scheme carried out by an independent, qualified auditor or team of auditors who report on the project's accident potential for all kinds of road users. Although the initial cost of the design will be a little higher, the expense of rebuilding subsequent black spots can be avoided. Accident costs can be a major component of total road costs when considering the entire economic life of a project when a significant [...]

Safety Improvement on Interurban Roads

Part one of the report is intended for political decision makers, to persuade them that implementing specific safety programmes is useful, getting them to understand that safety operations are not necessarily complicated and expensive. When road improvement schemes are programmed on the basis of multiple objectives, decision makers should give priority to the safety aspect. The remainder of the report concerns both decision makers and engineers. Apart from localized "black spot" type methods, [...]