The European Union Road Federation (ERF), in partnership with the Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA), is pleased to announce the 1st Edition of the European Road Infrastructure Congress. The Congress will be held October 18-20, 2016 at the Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, in Leeds, United Kingdom.
This First Congress will bring together policymakers, road authorities, academics, research institutes, and industry representatives from both Europe and across the world to exchange good practices and present new research finding so that as a sector we can improve the products, service and delivery on our road network.
Why UK and why Leeds? The City of Leeds, at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse Corridor in the UK, has been chosen as the host for the 1st European Road Infrastructure Congress.
The UK Government is adopting innovative management and financing models for the delivery of road infrastructure with the establishment of Highways England as an independent body with a ring-fenced budget of ’20-billion-pound sterling over 5 years. Across Europe, pioneering technology is changing the way we use, manage and maintain our road network. This conference will explore the following key themes:
• Delivery of the road infrastructure: How can we improve its delivery model in a way that enables road authorities to ask for better solutions while providing industry with an optimal use of public resources and obtaining value for money?
• Road Safety: How can we work together in order to identify practical solutions enabling Europe to achieve its ambitious target of a 50% cut in road fatalities?
• Adaptation of the road infrastructure: Technological changes and innovations in vehicle technology, road usage and road infrastructure mean that the road of the future will differ significantly from what it is today.
How can we address these challenges and secure the contribution of the road to future socio-economic development?
The conference objectives are to:
• Explore how both the UK and Europe can improve their delivery models in a way that enables road authorities to have better solutions.
• Provide industry with incentives for innovation, road users with a better experience and to optimize use of public resources.
• Promote road safety in view of the recent slowing of fatality reduction figures across the UK and Europe.
• Evaluate how the main players involved in the road infrastructure sector can work better together in order to identify practical solutions that enables Europe to achieve its target of 50% cut in road fatalities.
• Review the adaptation of road infrastructure in view of innovations in vehicle technologies, and the road infrastructure itself, as the roads of the future will differ significantly from those of today.
• Examine the challenges posed by road automation for the road infrastructure sector and the role of roads in the future European socio-economic model.
For the website of the 1st Edition of the European Road Infrastructure Congress, please go to: http://www.eric2016.eu.
For details about the conference, please download the Congress PDF:
http://www.eupave.eu/documents/events/calender/erf-congress-2016-eric_details.pdf.
For information and a map of the Congress in the ISCP “Events” section, please go to:
https://www.concretepavements.org/event/european-road-infrastructure-congress/.
For questions and more information, please contact:
Konstandinos Diamandouros, Head of Office-ERF | E-mail: k.diamandouros@erf.be
Kevin Robinson, Events and Communications Officer,
Road Safety Marking Association | E-mail: krobinson@rsma.co.uk