National Reports

National Reports are replies from countries to the international surveys launched by the Strategic Theme Coordinators.

TS1 - THE ROLE OF ROAD ADMINISTRATIONS IN A MULTIMODAL SOCIETY

“The role of road administrations in a multimodal society”

Multimodal transport of passengers and goods is regarded as a key factor for a more efficient and sustainable transport. Multimodal transport chains are set up in order to combine the strengths and offset the weaknesses of various transportation options. Multimodal transport administrations are required to link roads and rails, motorised and non-motorised transport, consider the separation of car use and car ownership (car sharing) and the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users and containerised goods transport. The rapid and fundamental changes within societies following megatrends such as digitalisation, specialisation, miniaturisation and communication influence the planning, maintenance and management of roads as well as their financing and lead to a new generation of administration(s).

The National Reports address the issues in relation to:

• Legislative, regulatory and other targets as well policiesand deadlines that have been set for intermodal transport and those nodes linking modes. The modal choice as a chance or challenge for the road administrations;
• Lessons learned and challenges aheadto assist transport administrations in mastering the rapid transformation of the transport system related to multimodal travel and transport around the world with respect to sustainability, decarbonisation, efficiency. The advantages and disadvantages of reshaping the road’s role are the central points of the discussion;
• Measures for transport administrations, with indications of quantitative objectives, that are planned within the road transport sector to enable multimodal use of the road network. This might include inter alia:
  -New needs and demands by intermodal costumers for road administrations,
  -Crosslinks between land-use planning and multimodal transport,
  -Constraints by the international economic crises for the multimodal road policy,
  -The reliability of roads in an intermodal transport system,
  -New communication channels, strategies and social networking for road administrations,
  -Issues of risk management, climate change, financing of roads and social development in a multimodal environment,
  -Future challenges for intermodal transport administrations, such as ageing societies, demographic changes, migration and rapid economic development among others, outsourcing roads and public sector participation in a multimodal transport system.

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TS2 - MOBILITY AND INCREASED URBANISATION

“Mobility and increased urbanization”

A significant progress of urbanisation has been observed in the 20^th century and the United Nations predicts that by 2030 more than 60% of world population will be living in urban areas. The shift to urbanisation does lead to a number of significant issues: chronically occurring traffic congestion, air pollution and health related issues, etc. On the other hand, the issue of urban sprawl brings another set of issues: reduced population density in cities which causes difficulties in the management of public transport. Currently, the significant levels of vehicular traffic in cities lead to a range of environmental issues which supports a shift to decarbonisation of the transport fleet. From the perspective of access and mobility, the Strategic Direction Session was keen to learn from countries that are proactively addressing these issues and coming forward with solutions.

The structure of the National Report should be as follows:

1. the current situation and issues in urbanisation and urban traffic,
2. recent initiatives and good examples of measures already introduced or in development,
3. results or expected results of such measures,
4. valuable experiences, wider reflections and lessons learned in regards to the challenges and plans for future.

The following mobility issues might be considered in the reports:

• Development of road network including ring roads
  Many large cities, without sufficient road networks, certainly lack road capacity, in particular, controlling through traffic by developing ring roads.
• Improvement of road network operation
  Guiding and smoothing traffic through collection and provision of road traffic information with ITS. Navigation system, traffic signal controls, ramp metering, hard shoulder running, dynamic speed control, reversible lanes.
• Use of underground and elevated space
  Building roads underground enables effective use of upper space, improvement of landscape, reduction of environmental burdens and improved health though urban mobility (particularly for walking and cycling).
• Promotion of multi-modal transport for the environment
  Development of public transport, providing integrated traffic information, seamless public transport, improving traffic nodes, park & ride, cycle & ride, rent a cycle, car pooling.
• Congestion tolling
  Road pricing, value pricing (High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) or High Occupancy Tolling (HOT) lane - dynamic toll by hours), distance-based charging.
• Land-use planning compatible with transport in city centre area and in surrounding area
  Formation of a compact city with high density and controlled sprawl, transit-oriented development. Planning and proactive measures for future healthy development of the city and transport in order to avoid sprawled urbanisation.
• Road space management accommodating various transport modes including pedestrians, bicycles, buses and tramcars
  Reallocation of road space (Bus Rapid Transport, Light Rail Transport, bicycle, pedestrian), development bicycle lane network, parking supply control, traffic cell system.
• Improvement of roadside environment
  Construction of bypasses, improvement of intersections, sound insulation walls, noise reduction pavement, new technologies of soil denitration / photocatalyst, etc.
• Possibility of introduction of new technologies to improve urban mobility like new types of vehicles, ITS, automatic vehicle driving technology, etc.
  Micro mobility, advanced cruise-assist highway system (AHS), telematics, bus-location system, parking regulation, road traffic information, innovative road traffic management through ITS.

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TS3 - THE JOURNEY ROAD ADMINISTRATIONS ARE MAKING TOWARDS SAFER ROADS

“The journey road administrations are making towards safer roads”

At the World Road Congress in Mexico in 2011 the Association encouraged its member governments to pursue development of comprehensive national road safety strategies designed to reduce injuries and fatalities in a manner consistent with the goals of the UN Decade of Action. A core principal of the Decade of Action is a move towards safe systems.

This session will address how countries are progressing in the area of road safety, including the identification of country responses to the UN Decade of Action. The hope is that the national reports will show positive movement in making roads safer and consideration should be given to how technology might play a key role in this objective.

1. What developments are you undertaking to make roads safer (and are you considering how a safe system approach might be applied)?

Note: select items for which recent initiatives have been taken or significant results have been obtained in your country

• What are the institutional arrangements established to ensure the success of the national road safety plan?
• How does your Government/road administration communicate with road users, in terms of education, to shift behaviour to improve road safety?
• What measures does your Government take to ensure that vehicle safety is improved?
• What measures does your road authority take to create safer roads on: Strategic roads (Motorways/A roads); Local roads?
• How does your road administration reduce the risk posed to road workers?
• What new design standards are being considered by your road administration to improve safety? 
• What actions are you considering to improve safety in critical infrastructures, for example, road tunnels?
• What actions are you taking to address risky driver behaviours (drink driving, distracted driving to address use of mobile phones whilst driving)?
• What legislative and enforcement measures does your Government have in place for helmet use (motorcycle/bicycle), seat belt use and child restraint systems?
• Etc. 

2. What technological advances are being used or considered to make a difference to road safety?

• What technology advances do you consider may help you make a significant difference to road safety? 

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TS4 - OPTIMISING ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

“Optimizing road infrastructure investments and accountability”

Accountability and transparency in the management of public investment in road infrastructure prompt road network managers to adopt new practices which aim to demonstrate and support investment choices. Striking balance between the levels of service achieved or desired by the users involves the development of performance indicators that are realistic and reliable, available to the public, while making sure that the issues are well understood. Keeping road assets in good condition is a challenge for road administrations as funding needs are higher than the budget available. Therefore investment choices should be supported by technical, economic and social arguments as to the role of roads and mobility in our societies.

The National reports shall deal with the following subjects, based on the questions raised below:

1. Performance indicators:
   what are the main performance indicators used to measure the condition of road assets and/or the level of service provided to users? Are the results from the measurements designed to assist decision making of network managers? What type of information is provided to elected representatives and to users about the condition of the road network? Does such information include indication on the commitments made by the manager?
2. Tools to analyze investment choices:
   is the network approach preferred or is the project approach still in use? Have you introduced an approach by trunk road that includes an analysis of vulnerability of the infrastructure located on the road? How do you address arbitration between the investments required for the maintenance of the various assets such as bridges and pavements? Do you use tools for simulating the evolution of the condition of the condition road infrastructure in a context of budget restrictions?
3. User satisfaction:
   how do you check the expectations of the users regarding the levels of service provided, the priorities that the road administration should set and the related costs?
4. Involvement of citizens in decisions:
   are citizens involved in decisions related to road infrastructure funding? How are the results from user satisfaction measurement taken into account in the analysis for investment choices?
5. Accountability:
   how is reporting performed for the public regarding road infrastructure management and what is the content? To which documents and information do citizens have access (in terms of road asset condition, management dashboard for investment achievement, etc.)?

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All national reports

	TS1	TS2	TS3	TS4
Austria	RN-at1-E	RN-at2-E	RN-at3-E	RN-at4-E
Burkina Faso	RN-bf1-E		RN-bf3-E
Canada				RN-ca4-E
Canada-Quebec				RN-cq4-E
China (People's Republic)			RN-cn3-E
Czech Republic	RN-cz1-E	RN-cz2-E	RN-cz3-E	RN-cz4-E
France		RN-fr2-E
Germany	RN-de1-E			RN-de4-E
Italy			RN-it3-E
Japan	RN-jp1-E	RN-jp2-E	RN-jp3-E	RN-jp4-E
Malaysia			RN-my3-E
Mexico		RN-mx2-S	RN-mx3-S	RN-mx4-E
Norway			RN-no3-F
Republic of Guinea				RN-gn4-E
Senegal		RN-sn2-E	RN-sn3-E	RN-sn4-E
Slovak Republic		RN-sk2-E		RN-sk4-E
Slovenia				RN-si4-E
South Korea		RN-kr2-E	RN-kr3-E
Spain	RN-es1-E		RN-es3-E	RN-es4-E
Sweden	RN-se1-E	RN-se2-E	RN-se3-E
Switzerland		RN-ch2-E	RN-ch3-E
United Kingdom	RN-uk1-E	RN-uk2-E	RN-uk3-E	RN-uk4-E
United States of America		RN-us2-E	RN-us3-E

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