ANAS, the state-owned company which is responsible for constructing and maintaining Italy’s motorways and state highways, is considering making an application to join EuroRAP after attending the EuroRAP General Assembly for the first time.
The organisation was invited to attend by the Italian Automobile Club (ACI) whose Statistical Office co-ordinator, Lucia Pennisi, said that it was of ‘vital importance’ that ANAS participated in the Assembly.
ANAS was represented by three delegates: Barbara Bianchini, Pier Paolo Cartolano and Leonardo Annese. Barbara, an engineer working in the Direction for Operations and Territorial Coordination said after the Assembly that the delegates had been impressed by how EuroRAP worked in an ‘extremely dynamic context with the utmost willingness to share and exchange knowledge and experience.
The Assembly and its workshops allowed us to see how the EuroRAP methodology provides an easy to read measure of infrastructure safety following specific interventions,’ she said. The delegates had also been impressed by the flexibility of ViDA and its ability to identify risk and possible improvements in road infrastructure in order to minimise the consequences of road accidents, she said.
‘Road safety is gaining an increasingly strategic importance for ANAS,’ she added. ‘We are very interested in evaluating the possibility of applying EuroRAP protocols to the managed road network.’
Lucia Pennisi, who attended the Assembly alongside the ANAS delegation, said that the events had been an excellent showcase for all the benefits that EuroRAP membership can bring including shared innovation and setting targets for safer road infrastructure.
‘ANAS is the main national road network operator in Italy. I hope that ANAS will become a member of EuroRAP, which will help to improve the security of our road safety infrastructure,’ she said.