Over the last decade, there have been unprecedented changes impacting the roads and transport sector with the rise of new technologies and service models, climate change, new forms of work and leisure, and the evolution of a complex and technology-enabled mobility ecosystem at a fast pace. This creates a context of the sector facing important challenges originating from systemic and ongoing changes in society, economy and environment.
Transportation agencies must keep on track of these trends while continuing with their central mission of providing essential services in the movement of passengers and freight, building, operating and maintaining critical infrastructure, as well as ensuring customer safety and welfare within the limits of environmental and social sustainability. Combining these goals will not be possible without embracing transformative visions for the future. This requires a change of mindset and the adoption of collaborative, agile and open innovation not only in the movement of people, goods and services, but also in transport agencies´ own organisational structures, processes and resources, as well as engaging with multiple partners and stakeholders.
With this context in mind, Working Group 1 (WG1) of PIARC Technical Committee 1.1 (Performance of Transport Administrations) has been convened over the 2023 – 2027 Strategic Planning Cycle to undertake a programme entitled Envisioning the Transport Agency of the Future (ETAF). This programme focuses on how transport agencies should evolve to meet changing needs and customer expectations with highlights on aspects such as evolving role and function, planning for uncertainty, future operating models, workforce and skills, assessing the impact of technology and digitalisation, incorporating innovation, and stakeholder engagement with other public, private and civil society entities.
The programme is fortunate that considerations around The Transport Agency of the Future do not start with a blank page but can draw on a range of existing evidence. This Report brings this together in the form of key previous PIARC reports, parallel development of technical ideas by TRB and AASHTO, and a number of dedicated seminars and workshops in 2023 and 2024 in Europe, North America and Asia. 
The intention is that the findings of this Report will be combined with evidence from a separate ongoing Literature Review of the work programme to produce a combined State of Knowledge. This will lay the basis for subsequent primary data collection and analysis, principally a questionnaire survey and in-depth case studies, leading to policy recommendations and guidance in subsequent stages of the ETAF research.