Preparatory documents for the Seminar

• Seminar first announcement
• Seminar second announcement

Introduction

From 15 to 17 May, PIARC Technical Committee 2.1 “Mobility in urban areas” met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and organized an International Seminar with over 150 participants from over 25 countries.

Urban mobility is a critical issue in an increasingly urbanized world. Road infrastructure can play a key role in urban mobility, reserving its use to public transport and active modes in the city center, and offering full accessibility in the per-urban area. The Technical Director of PIARC, Miguel Caso Florez, joined the seminar to support the Association, the work of the Technical Committee and to meet with Argentinean authorities to promote these activities especially in that opportunity, the upcoming 27th World Road Congress and together with him, the President of the AAC, Eng. Emma Albrieu had the responsibility of conducting the event.

Seminar schedule

The schedule of activities that took place during the three days of the seminar, included six technical sessions, two round tables, a technical visit, as well as the opening and closing presentations with the final conclusions. 

The Chair of PIARC Technical Committee 2.1 Eng. Andrea Simone from Italy and the local representative of A.A.C & TC 2.1 Eng Oscar Fariña from Argentina were in charge of the normal development of the activities.

The documents that were presented in each technical session, as well as the specialists who have prepared them and submitted them for the consideration of those attending the Seminar are described below.

Day 1 - 15 May

Day 2 - 16 May

Day 3 - 17 May

Seminar Conclusions

In the preparation of the initial program of the Seminar, the scope of various problems to be studied was raised. One of them has been stated as: "Road mobility projects in urban regions and their impact on the environment". In principle, the bases of these proposals were the terms of reference, within which the studies carried out by the representatives of various countries in the Piarc TC 21 Committee were developed: Mobility in Urban Areas in the Period 2000-2023. The studied cases are numerous and will be included in the Final Document to be published. Some of the most representative examples are those that have been read at the meeting.

In this context, it is essential to adjust the programmatic guidelines to the realities of the problems of each country or each geographical region, given that it is good administration, to transmit positive experiences in the matter and besides, to compare them to from them the results obtained from the undertakings carried out in various urban centers. The enrichment of knowledge within each subject is obviously bidirectional for those who participate in this scientific and technological dynamic.

In the first place, all of this has been reflected in the large number of people interested in the seminar and their participation in each of the scheduled activities. Let's look at some of the most prominent themes; one of them has been: “Accessibility and land use analysis for urban regions mobility planning”. Here, the need to comprehensively study the problems in intermediate traffic interchange zones between highways and urban areas was discussed, and various cases of undertakings were analyzed in which solutions of different scopes are made compatible. Complementing the proposals, the applications of ITS-type control technologies that have given very good results, were evaluated in these cases.

Another of the issues that have been highlighted is the importance of traffic and environmental impact studies on urban mobility with the works undertaken in the road area. Here the concept of evaluating before starting the works and after once they have been completed has stood out. An issue that has been highlighted is the proposal presented by Chilean professionals on the experience that is being followed in that country based on a new legislation that is required in all undertakings of private construction works as well as on public roads to carry out the studies of impact with the consequent mitigation actions under its responsibility

Finally, the need to standardize both the equipment used in mobility control and the guidelines for road intervention and maintenance of the respective infrastructure was discussed through a round table.

Here concludes the synthesis of everything done in the Urban Mobility Seminar of PIARC Committee T.C 2.1, in a meeting in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.