Innovation in Road Infrastructure

 Innovation in Road Infrastructure

Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée - 20 rue des Sables – 1000 Brussels - Metro Botanique 

For many years the perception of road infrastructure in Europe has been of a congested, under funded and unsafe system associated with outdated and dirty industrial practises.  Despite this perception, Europe’s road system is probably the feature that can be most tangibly associated with Europe’s aspirations for a cohesive and open society.   Moreover, it is roads that are most often associated with Europe in the regions and especially in the New Member States.  For any New Member States, accession was associated with substantial road building programmes; with new motorways, tunnels and bridges.  These have quite literally brought Europe’s people together.

In the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes, the European Commission has increasingly and firmly recognised the importance of road infrastructure within an integrated transport system. Consequently, the sector has responded with considerable research and innovation; resulting in a greener, safer and smarter infrastructure that has lower costs and greater value for national tax payers.

Nevertheless,  substantial effort still needs to be undertaken to reduce the backlog of infrastructure development needed and to properly maintain our existing road system.

The joint workshops of the European Commission funded CERTAIN and NR2C projects represent a substantial contribution to the sector. Together with the associated projects dealing with diverse issues on bridges, pavements, noise, safety etc, CERTAIN and NR2C demonstrate the solutions being developed to overcome the many challenges.

You are invited to join us on 15th and 16th November (venue+hotels), where all stakeholder concerned with Europe’s roads will consider how the application of research and innovation will help develop a better road systems worthy of Europe’s peoples.

Summary programme
15th November – CERTAIN programme   CERTAIN presentations
• Introduction- the importance and vitality of our roads
• European Parliament
• European Commission
• Facing the challenge
• Innovations in Road bridges monitoring  – the ARCHES project
• Innovations in pavement technology – the SPENS project

16th November – New Road Construction Concepts (NR2C)
• The European road infrastructure of the future: vision

NR2C 2040 and new concepts programme      NR2C presentations
• Theme 1 - Towards more human infrastructure
• Theme 2 - Towards greener infrastructure
• Theme 3 - Towards reliable infrastructure
• Theme 4 - Towards safer infrastructure
• Road infrastructure research for the future

CERTAIN and NR2C are supported by the European Union’s 6th Framework Programme