Electric road systems: a solution for the future?

It is looking increasing likely that electric vehicles will play a major role in the future of road transport. While commercial electric vehicles exist their uptake has been limited due to high purchase costs, limited battery range, and a lack of charging convenience. Furthermore, while developments are underway, electric and hybrid drive trains are yet to be efficiently integrated with heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). A novel way to overcome such challenges are Electric Road Systems; a branch of technologies [...]

Investigating Unpredicted Infrastructure Failure

This report is an outcome of PIARC mechanism for Special Projects, which is PIARC instrument to respond quickly to emerging issues for PIARC member countries. This report provides a review of 15 Unpredicted Infrastructure Failure (UIF) case studies that have been collated from around the world. For the purposes of the report UIF is defined as: instances where failure1 occurs on an asset that is considered in good condition and is well maintained The case study data from our interviews and [...]

Methodologies and tools for risk assessment and management applied to road operations

This report deals with methodologies and tools for risk assessment and management applied to road operations including managing risks in relation to the climate change. Chapter 1 of this report starts with a classification of methodologies for risk management of road infrastructure. Particular attention is paid to methodologies that can be applied on object level and those at the strategic level. Pre-existing risk management methodologies are presented as examples on the basis of risk matrices [...]

Road network management for improved mobility

It is useful to review the term "Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)" in this report. According to the PIARC ITS Handbook, ITS is a generic term to mean integrated communications, control technologies and information processing systems for transport applications. However, in this report, we consider the need to define "ITS" as Intelligent Systems for improving mobility using integrated communications, control and processing technologies of information to meet smart objectives and goals (specific, [...]

Cooperative Vehicle Highway Systems

We can consider that the most recent developments of the vehicles are: the massive deployment of sensors, actuators and computers allowing to develop a kind of "vehicle and transport system intelligence"; their ability to communicate among themselves or with the infrastructure through the concept of cooperative systems; the introduction of electric motor combined or not with thermal motor: hybrid vehicles or full electric vehicles. All these changes are beneficial for both the car manufacturers, [...]