Roads professionals from across Europe will have a valuable opportunity to learn about the life-saving benefits of 3-star or better roads when they attend the first European Road Infrastructure Congress (ERIC2016) in Leeds from 18-20 October.
More than 300 delegates are expected at the event, which is built around three key themes: delivery of road infrastructure, road safety and adaptation of road infrastructure. EuroRAP, a co-sponsor of the event, will be prominently involved. Details can be viewed here.
Steve Lawson, EuroRAP’s Partnerships and Research Director, will present on recent European road projects alongside Alaster Barlow from project partner AECOM. The papers consider the safety impact of improved infrastructure on work with AECOM on the M2-R7 in Moldova and work with TRL on the M12 corridor in Ukraine. They clearly demonstrate the significant benefits delivered by upgrading road infrastructure to 3-star or better. The M12 improvements are expected to lead to 500 fewer road deaths and serious injuries over a 20-year period.
Stephen Stacey will explain the benefits of achieving a 3-star or better standard as he discusses the strategic focus of the International Road Assessment (iRAP) programme. He will show how building new 1- and 2-star roads imposes a significant burden of avoidable death and injury on communities.
James Bradford, EuroRAP’s Products Director, will demonstrate iRAP’s analysis platform ViDA in a workshop. ‘I’m looking forward to showing ERIC2016 participants how we work to reduce deaths and serious injuries on roads,’ said James.
EuroRAP’s new Chairman, Ferry Smith, will close the final session, summarising the main outcomes and sending participants away with a strongly positive message about the work that needs to be done to bring deaths and serious injuries down by 50% by 2020.
Stephen said: ‘ERIC2016 is an excellent opportunity for us to engage with the people who are working at the sharp end of road building. We need to get the message across that 3-star or better makes great economic sense as well as creating safer roads that are better for communities.’