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Three new FEHRL members have accepted by the General Assembly together with the election of two new FEHRL Executive Committee (FEC) members.

The 27th FEHRL General Assemby was held last week (18-19th October 2012) at FEHRL member EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the meeting, three new FEHRL General Assembly (FGA) members and two new FEHRL Executive Committee (FEC) members were elected.

Three new FGA members

At this meeting, Guy Scharfe, Audrius Vaitkus and Gerald Waldron were elected to the FGA representing, respectively, the Administration des Ponts et Chaussees (PCH) in Luxembourg, the Lithuanian Road Research Institute (RRI) and the ARRB Group of Australia.  

 From left: Guy Scharfe MTU-CL, Joris Al, FEHRL President, Audrius Vaitkus, RRI and Gerard Waldron, ARRB

Two new Executive Committee members

Bob Collis (TRL) and Kjersti Kvalheim Dunham (NPRA) were also elected as new FEC members for the next three years. They join the existing members of Andrzej Urbanik (IBDIM), Lutz Pinkofsky (BASt) and Chairman Bojan Leben (ZAG).

Administration des Ponts et Chaussees (PCH - Bridges and Road Administration), Luxembourg

The main site of the Administration des Ponts et Chaussées (PCH - Bridges and Road Administration) is situated in Bertrange, Luxembourth, and includes the Material Testing Unit - Chemical Laboratory (MTU-CL), the Maintenance Center of National Highways and the southern part of the primary and secondary road networks. The Bridges and Road Administration is part of the Public Works department within the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure.

MTU-CL's work within the PCH includes tests on concrete, asphalt concrete, aggregates, soil and paint, and also includes a chemical and cement laboratory. Considering MTU-CL's location within the Luxembourg Road and Highway Administration, priority is given to current in situ and laboratory controls of activities in road construction. Previous research work includes:

• The Eurocrete programmme to produce high strength concrete,
• The development of technique for recycling of fines to create artificial stone concrete and
• The study of the efficiency of ecological additives for producing low temperature asphaltes.

Currently MTU-CL is involved in a study on the correlation between skid resistance values of the Wehner-Schultze Method, classical SRT Pendulum and on site CFL measurements.   

The FGA member and Research Coordinator for APC is Guy Scharfe (Guy.scharfe@pch.etat.lu).

Road Research Institute,  Lithuania

The Road Research Institute (RRI) in Lithuania was founded in 2009 at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Faculty of Environmental Engineering but the history and expierence of the road department dates back more than 80 years. RRI's main activities include:

• Scientific research and engineering works, feasibility studies and engineering consultations
• Laboratory testing of construction products and other materials;
• Design, (author) inspection of project implementation, and project appraisal;
• Technical construction supervision and expertise of structures;
• Road safety audits and safety inspections.

• ROAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
• TRANSPORT AND ROAD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
• JSC PROBLEMATIKA

These three companies comprises a Road Survey Division, a Bridge Survey Division, a Traffic Safety Group, a Communication Development Division and a State Property and Service Division, Road materials testing laboratory.

Ongoing research works of RRI:

• Guidelines of use of warm mix asphalt
• Guidelines of use of concrete and natural stone kerbs and blocks for external paving
• Pavement design manual, requirements for non-typical pavement design
• Highways and roadways designing instructions
• Roadways winter maintenance study
• Research of road safety implements
• Research of use of high modulus asphalt concrete in road pavement structures in Lithuania
• Research of road lighting and heavy vehicle influence on road pavement structure
• Research on use of soft asphalt for low volume road pavements

 The FGA member and Research Coordinator for RRI is Audrius Vaitkus (audrius.vaitkus@vgtu.lt).

ARRB Group, Australia

The ARRB Group, short for Australian Road Research Board, was established in 1960 with members comprising the Commonwealth Government, State Road Authorities and Local Government. Today ARRB has over 250 full-time staff, including engineers, scientists, psychologists, economists, software developers, specialist technical and support staff and other associates and contractors. ARRB's Strategic Plan 2011-2020 focuses on:

1. Delivering technical expertise in areas of particular importance to Australasian road authorities
2. Managing a research investment portfolio on behalf of road agencies
3. Sourcing and disseminating to members and customers world-class research and technical information
4. Operating as a commercially viable and sustainable business

ARRB's fransport research funding schemes include the Austroads national research program, Federal and state funding, aid programs and ARRB investment. ARRB has a partnership with Austroads and over many decades has maintained strong international research collaboration links with, for example:

The FGA member for ARRB is Gerald Waldron (gerard.waldron@arrb.com.au) and the Research Coordinator is Richard Yeo (richardy@arrb.com.au).

This brings the number of FEHRL members up to 30 and associate members up to four. Click here to see an overview of the existing FEHRL institutes and read below for more details about the three new members.

Comments: Three new FEHRL members and two new Executive Committee members elected