NEWSLETTER N°83
January 2020

Dear readers,

As presented further in this newsletter, PIARC is currently kick-starting its new work cycle, with more than 20 new Committees. They will tackle a range of topics covering finance, pavements, road safety, and many others.

The development of our new Strategic Plan involved several steps of consultation, in order to make sure that we were addressing issues that were relevant. Our First Delegates, National Committees and Technical bodies, especially from Low- and Middle-income countries, were invited to express their needs. Externally, we consulted with our Advisory group, and held a workshop and interviews with external stakeholders [...]

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PIARC has launched its new Strategic Plan 

22 January – 14 February 2020, Champs‐sur‐Marne (France)

PIARC is launching its new Strategic Plan by organizing kick-off meetings for all its 22 Technical Committees and Task Forces. A thousand experts from about 50 countries are participating in the meetings in order to discuss how to organize their work for the next four-year cycle.

The new Strategic Plan covers years 2020 to 2023 and details the topics that the Association will focus on over the next cycle. At the technical level, PIARC organizes its efforts into four Strategic Themes: Road Administration; Mobility; Safety and Sustainability; and Resilient Infrastructure.

Each Strategic Theme incorporates several Technical Committees and Task Forces, and all of them are meeting during a three-day kick-off meeting in Paris.

>> Further information

PIARC Special Projects: The calls for proposals are open! 

PIARC - World Road Association is launching two calls for proposals for the special projects "Road related data and how to use it" and "Overweight vehicles impacts on road infrastructure and safety" to be implemented in 2020.

>> Further information

PIARC at the 99th annual meeting of the Transport Research Board (TRB) 

12-16 January 2020, Washington D.C. (USA)

With more than 13,000 delegates and a wide range of contributors including practitioners, researchers, decision-makers and experts, this event included a workshop on Workforce 2050 as well as two workshops on HDM-4 in which Patrick Malléjacq, PIARC's Secretary-General, took part.

>> Further information

PIARC at the World Bank’s Conference Transforming Transportation (TT) and SuM4All meeting

15-17 January 2020, Washington D.C. (USA)

Transforming Transportation is the annual conference co-hosted by the World Bank and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. The theme for Transforming Transportation 2020 was “Connecting People for Sustainable Growth”. Oscar de Buen, former PIARC president and member of the Executive Committee, took part in a panel on Climate Change Adaptation and PIARC also attended a meeting on the SuM4All Global Roadmap of Action.

PIARC held its annual statutory meetings from 3 to 4 October in Abu Dhabi (UAE) 

3-4 October 2019, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

On 3 and 4 October, just the week before the World Road Congress in Abu Dhabi, the statutory meetings of PIARC took place: The Council and the Executive Committee, under the chairmanship of Claude Van Rooten, President of PIARC, as well as the Conference of National Committees and the Communication Commission.

The next statutory meetings will take place in Madrid (Spain) and in April 2020 and in Dakar (Senegal) in October 2020, for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa.

>> Find out more about the PIARC Governing Bodies

100 years of Poland's membership in PIARC

3 December 2019, Warsaw (Poland)

Representatives of 12 countries and the PIARC authorities with President Claude Van Rooten took part in the meeting of the European National Committees on 3 December in Warsaw. The meeting was hosted by the Polish National Committee. Two important jubilees were an opportunity to invite the counterparts of the other European countries: 200 years of central road administration in Poland and 100 years of Poland's membership in PIARC. For the first time (except for the 15th Winter Road Congress in Gdańsk), it was possible to meet in such a wide and representative group of representatives of PIARC national committees in Poland, where the committee has recently been established. 

Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, together in PIARC National Committees of the Visegrad Group countries alliance

3 December 2019, Warsaw (Poland)

On 3 December in Warsaw, the representatives of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland signed a letter of intent assuming close cooperation of the PIARC National Committees of the Visegrad Group countries.

The long-term goal of the signatories of the letter will be the creation of the Visegrad Road Association - a regional agreement of national associations and committees. While preserving their identity, national committees of PIARC will exchange experiences and jointly strive to develop technical knowledge and disseminate good practices in the road construction industry of the whole group. It will be a forum for cooperation of professionals from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary.

Large Underground Interconnected Infrastructure 

This report is a continuation of the previous one published in 2016: “Road tunnels: complex underground road networks” (2016R19EN).

The consequences of complex interconnected underground networks may often be underestimated, particularly when it results from adding new infrastructure to existing infrastructure that has not been designed for this purpose. The feasibility and relevance of this new network can only be validated after an in-depth analysis.

>> Read the technical report

Review of Practices Using Marginal and Secondary Materials in Rural and Industrial Areas 

The use of existing materials in road embankments is an essential issue within the Sustainable Development policies, which have been promoted worldwide for many years. In the World Road Association (PIARC) this subject has been investigated by different Technical Committees over the last 20 years.

This report first presents some generalities related to the design of earthworks for roads and reviews the most relevant aspects of previous PIARC reports [...]

>> Read the technical report

Review of Global Road Safety Audit Guidelines – With Specific Consideration for Low - and Middle - Income Countries 

This report has involved a comprehensive review of current Road Safety Audit Manuals and Guidelines from a range of different countries to establish current practices and considers previous international reviews to determine key areas where additional guidance is required, or exemplar practice is well established. Initial consideration was given to the core issues facing many countries regarding [...]

>> Read the technical report