The first ‘Concrete Roads Congress and Exhibition’ hosted more than 1,000 people and was held at the Ankara KGM Halil Rifat Paşa Conference Hall in Ankara, Turkey, under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, with technical support from the General Directorate of Highways (KGM), the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TÇMB), and the European Concrete Paving Association (EUPAVE).
Hosted by the General Directorate of Highways, the two-day Congress Congress was attended by Enver İSKURT, Deputy Minister-Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir URALOĞLU, General Director-Highways, as well as national and international project practitioners. Participants included: Managers and technical officials from domestic and foreign public institutions; municipalities; special provincial administrations; projectors; contractors; consultants; representatives of related institutions, academicians, and highways; academicians and representatives of the private sector—in concrete roads, concrete barriers, permeable concrete, etc. The Exhibition focused on design, manufacture, and implementation of road and road construction elements with participants of domestic and foreign machinery, equipment, materials manufacturers, and suppliers.
Contributing to the competitive power of Turkey and improving the quality of life of the society, the goal of the Congress and Exhibition was to contribute to the creation of a sustainable transportation system that provides safe, accessible, economic, comfortable, fast, environmentally sensitive, uninterrupted, balanced, contemporary services. It served as a platform for the discussion of every aspect of concrete roads, including the technological developments witnessed in concrete road construction in Turkey to date.
In his opening speech, Dr. Tamer Saka, Chairman of the Board-TÇMB, noted that the adoption of concrete roads, in addition to asphalt roads, would contribute to the country’s economy by reducing the current account deficit. Saka said, “Concrete roads are a long-lasting, solid, and domestic alternative that require very little maintenance or repair throughout their useful life. The binder used in asphalt roads is a by-product of imported crude oil, for which we rely heavily on foreign resources. In contrast, cement and concrete are completely domestic products.”
Saka stated that continuously reinforced concrete roads (CRC) are:
• Solid
• Domestic alternative to asphalt in road and highway construction
• Resistant to heavy vehicular traffic loads
• Have a service life of more than 50 years
He also explained, “Roller compacted concrete (RCC) roads have begun construction in rural areas and they are 40% more economical in terms of the initial construction cost, and last 3-4 times longer.” It was also highlighted that concrete barriers reduce mortalities from road traffic accidents by about 20%, and are in wide use across Europe.
Furthermore, Nihat Özdemir, Board Member-TÇMB, said, “If 50% of the highways and state roads, 10% of provincial roads, and 20% of the local administration road networks were to be constructed [in] concrete, we could save US $700m in initial construction costs.”
Enver İSKURT stated that he would bring Turkey one step closer to a sustainable transportation system by providing the enrichment of the existing information on concrete roads, sharing research and development activities and new technologies. ISKURT, who brought together the road authorities, academicians, producers and practitioners working on the road superstructure, stated that it was a Congress that would contribute to science and practice at national and international level—emphasizing that the event was of great importance for the development of the road transport sector in our country.
Abdulkadir URALOĞLU stated that the projects are carried out worldwide as an organization, highway projects that have the most width in their field, there is an important part of them completed and opened to traffic, and the work will continue. Emphasizing the necessity of creating an agenda for concrete feasibility in the superstructure, discussing, following the developments on this issue and contributing to them, he said that various exemplary practices have been carried out on the roads under the responsibility of KGM. URALOĞLU explained that they prepared the specifications for concrete roads and presented them for the use in the sector.
For the World Cement online article, please go to: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/28112019/the-concrete-roads-congress-and-exhibition-takes-place-in-ankara-turkey/
For the CN Cemnet.com online article, please go to: https://www.cemnet.com/News/story/167855/tcmb-support-first-concrete-roads-congress.html
For the Railly News online article, please go to: https://raillynews.com/2019/11/1-concrete-roads-congress-and-exhibition-started-in-Ankara/
Home photo: The first Concrete Roads Congress and Exhibition-Cement.com