17th World Congress on Road Winter Service, Resilience and Decarbonisation
Chambéry (France), 10-13 March 2026
The 17th World Congress on Road Winter Service, Resilience and Decarbonisation will be held in Chambéry (France) from 10 to 13 March 2026. The overall theme for the Congress is "Ensuring road excellence in all seasons".
Registrations are open!
The 17th World Congress on Road Winter Service, Resilience and Decarbonisation will be held in Chambéry (France) from 10 to 13 March 2026. The overall theme for the Congress is "Ensuring road excellence in all seasons".
We encourage you to register now for this prestigious event, which builds on the work accomplished by our Technical Committees. It aims to promote the sharing of international experiences and best practices and will include presentations by road experts, academics and practitioners from around the world, as well as by PIARC's international partner associations.
The early-bird period runs until 7 January 2026, after which a standard rate will apply from 8 January to 5 March 2026.
PIARC members who are up-to-date with their membership fees can benefit from reduced rates. They can also register for the World Snowplough Championship.
Please see the dedicated tab below.
We look forward to welcoming you to Chambéry 2026!
The first stage of the call for papers is now closed. It was a great success which will contribute to scientific exchanges during the 2026 Congress.
The call for abstracts for the 2026 Congress is now closed.
We received 432 abstracts from 65 countries and would like to thank the authors for their contributions. Thanks to their strong participation, this call for abstracts has become a success that will foster a unique knowledge sharing process during the Congress in 2026.
About submissions
Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by PIARC's Technical Committees. Authors will be notified of decisions by 15 April 2025. Evaluation criteria include originality of content, technical interest, applicability and transferability of results.
Authors whose abstracts are accepted will be invited to submit a full paper by 31 August 2025.
All accepted papers will be presented in poster sessions and included in the Congress proceedings (subject to registration of at least one of the co-authors). Outstanding contributions will be selected for oral presentation during the technical sessions of the Congress. Prizes will be awarded for the best papers.
Key dates
- Call for papers: September 2024
- Deadline for submission of abstracts by authors: 28 February 2025
- Notice of assessment of abstracts: 15 April 2025
- Deadline for authors to submit full-text articles: 31 August 2025
- Notice of assessment of articles: 31 October 2025
- 17th World Congress on Road Winter Service, Resilience and Decarbonisation, Chambéry 2026: 10 to 13 March 2026
The town of Chambéry, which has a population of 60,000, is the former capital of the Dukes of Savoy and is famous for its Elephant Fountain.
Chambéry is very accessible, thanks in particular to the Lyon and Geneva airports, which are just 45 minutes away by car, the high-speed train (less than 3 hours from Paris), the two Alpine motorways and the two emblematic tunnels connecting Chambéry to Switzerland and Italy.
The specific characteristics of this region have encouraged the development of a veritable mountain ecosystem around Chambéry. More than 3,000 entrepreneurs, employees, students, researchers, engineers and lecturers dealing with all types of mountain-related subjects - economics, science, tourism, geology, the environment, law and safety - are concentrated within a 30km radius of the town.
This Alpine town is a veritable hub for the 60 ski resorts in Savoie, France's leading mountain destination, and is at the centre of a department concerned with the challenges of road resilience.
Winter service in Savoie offers many opportunities for technical visits!
The motorway and national road network serving the Savoie region requires the departmental authorities to maintain more than 3,000 km of roads, a third of which (900 km) are located at altitudes of more than 1,000 metres. A control office run jointly by the central administration and the departmental authorities carries out surveillance activities, coordinates and manages traffic flows, and supervises the tunnels with no interruption from Albertville.
The 2026 Winter Service Organising Committee is made up of:
- A Board of Directors led by Sandrine Chinzi (First Delegate for France) and Thierry Repentin (President of Greater Chambéry and Mayor of Chambéry) and including representatives of public authorities (State, Region, Department, Urban Community, City of Chambéry), PIARC France, private partners (motorway operators, road sector companies, equipment manufacturers)
- An Executive Committee made up of representatives of local authorities and companies involved in winter service and road resilience management.
We look forward to welcoming you to Chambéry 2026!
>> Visit the official Congress website: https://www.piarc-chambery2026.com/en/
The Organising Committee of the World Winter Road Congress is made up of :
- a Board of Directors co-chaired by Sandrine Chinzi (First PIARC Delegate for France) and Thierry Repentin (President of Greater Chambéry and Mayor of Chambéry) and comprising representatives of public authorities (State, Region, Department, Urban Community, City of Chambéry), PIARC France, PIARC and private partners (motorway operators, road sector companies, equipment manufacturers);
- an Executive Committee made up of representatives of local authorities and companies involved in winter service and road resilience management.
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