“The world is changing, mobility is changing and so roads must change and adapt for the future.” With this brief statement, Jacques Tavernier opened the second Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit today.
“At the same time there is a growing awareness of poor or non-existent maintenance for highways. The question for this conference is how to adapt road maintenance in the face of this challenge,” said Tavernier, addressing the opening plenary session.
More than 100 speakers will present their latest research and thinking on highways maintenance and over 60 exhibitors will display innovative solutions for the sector over the three days during PPRS at the Nice Acropolis Centre.
The need for a strategic long-term approach to road maintenance has been recognised in France with the recently set up National Observatory for Roads, explained Frederic Beauchef, vice president of Sarthe County Council.
The observatory was created with the central government at the insistence of France’s local government authorities – the Departments which have seen their revenues from Paris decline over the past decade, explained Beauchef.
The has led to “painful choices” in order to fulfil the duty of the Departments to preserve the precious public asset, he told the opening session. The observatory is monitoring the condition of France’s departmental roads using a consistent template as part of a strategy to prioritise maintenance.
There remain sensitive road-user issues in France, said Beauchef. One is the increasing number of heavy trucks which cause the most road damage but are not being taxed accordingly.
Fortunately, there has been a shift towards a more strategic approach in France, but this has been patchy across the nation, said Louis Negre, mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer in the southern Cote d’Azur region. For several years now there has been a strategic road maintenance plan for the Cote d’Azur, essential for a region whose 80,000km road network encompasses the hot Mediterranean climate as well the freezing Alps mountain areas.
The strategic focus is four-fold, Negre told delegates. Intervention must be optimised to ensure efficient use of funds and time. All the while, safety of road users is a priority of any outcome. There must be innovation to ensure an increasingly more multi-mode regional transport system. Also, solutions must be sustainable in the long term.
For more information about PPRS, visit the website.
