Roads play a crucial role in promoting equity and accessibility in both rural and interurban areas. Within this context, there are two primary areas of emphasis: enhancing active modes of transportation and improving road safety for all users, as well as investigating technical solutions for both paved and unpaved roads.

The Technical Committee 2.2 Roads for Equity, Accessibility and Mobility in Rural and Interurban Areas aims at presenting the challenges people living in rural and interurban areas face in their daily mobility and developing practical recommendations and initiatives that favor equitable access, sustainable mobility, and enhanced road safety.

This briefing note is the result of the activities of Working Group 2.2.1 which focuses on ways to improve and promote active mobility modes in rural and interurban areas. 

The main objective of this note is to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people living in rural areas, as well as the diverse mobility needs of children and women in rural and interurban areas. Providing infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists will help alleviate those challenges and provide a safer environment. Raising awareness of these issues amongst decision-makers will lead to a deeper understanding of the need to cater for active mobility in rural and interurban areas.

The note provides five recommendations for Decision-makers and four recommendations for PIARC, covering both High Income (HIC), and Low/Middle Income Countries (LMIC), but are especially poignant for countries where the gender gap is especially prominent and active travel modes are underrepresented, or in place with low safety considerations, and as such would provide an improvement for societal integration for underrepresented groups. These interventions are not necessarily resource intensive and could be implemented with minimal cost.

This briefing note concludes that rural areas face increased active mobility pressures and challenges when compared to urban and peri-urban areas, due in part to reduced investment and policy focus leading to increasing difficulties for women to partake in active mobility to undertake their day-to-day tasks. The note highlights the following areas to act as a call to action for addressing this imbalance:

·Further work is required to conduct qualitative research to explore the needs of women in HIC’s and LMIC’s who live in rural areas.

·Policy and investment processes need to be re-evaluated to incorporate active mobility.

·Creation of safe and accessible spaces for active mobility.

·Greater advocacy for women who do, or desire to, participate in active mobility.