Road investment benefits communities
The successful PPRS event in Paris enabled the sector to set the scene, to see clearly where it’s at technologically. But importantly, it also gave the sector an insight into where it has to go, said Jean-Francois Corte, secretary general of the World Road Association (3141 PIARC), in his closing remarks.
It showed that roads are not just a stand-alone national issue for individual governments, but a truly international issue, said Corte on the third and last day of the Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Paris in February.
Above all, the event showed that the road issue is really a social issue, he said. To that end, there needs to be a lot more monitoring, nationally and internationally, not just about the global road infrastructure condition but about the social issues surrounding the importance of good asset maintenance.
“We’ve got to make other people know the transport issue is a social issue,” he told delegates. Making a trip in, say, an hour less, is great, he said. “But it’s not about saving a few euros for the company you work for. It’s about gaining that extra time with your family.”
It’s about ensuring road users can arrive safely in good time to improve their quality of life. Corte called for a rethinking along these lines. “We need to re-balance the focus,” he said. “Most attention has been on large roads, like motorways. But a lot of local road, those smaller back roads, need attention and small improvements to this infrastructure can make very big differences to ordinary people’s lives.”
However, Corte acknowledged that that the PPRS conference was, like many similar conferences, talking to the converted. The dozens of exhibitors and hundreds of delegate assembled at the Palais des Congress are already vastly aware of how good road asset management can enhance life, he said.
He called on the sector to improve its monitoring of all issues around road conditions and uses and then the results must be communicated to people, organisations and governments who can make a difference.
“We’ve got to make the politicians and the public aware of the importance of roads as a benefit to all our communities,” he said.
It showed that roads are not just a stand-alone national issue for individual governments, but a truly international issue, said Corte on the third and last day of the Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Paris in February.
Above all, the event showed that the road issue is really a social issue, he said. To that end, there needs to be a lot more monitoring, nationally and internationally, not just about the global road infrastructure condition but about the social issues surrounding the importance of good asset maintenance.
“We’ve got to make other people know the transport issue is a social issue,” he told delegates. Making a trip in, say, an hour less, is great, he said. “But it’s not about saving a few euros for the company you work for. It’s about gaining that extra time with your family.”
It’s about ensuring road users can arrive safely in good time to improve their quality of life. Corte called for a rethinking along these lines. “We need to re-balance the focus,” he said. “Most attention has been on large roads, like motorways. But a lot of local road, those smaller back roads, need attention and small improvements to this infrastructure can make very big differences to ordinary people’s lives.”
However, Corte acknowledged that that the PPRS conference was, like many similar conferences, talking to the converted. The dozens of exhibitors and hundreds of delegate assembled at the Palais des Congress are already vastly aware of how good road asset management can enhance life, he said.
He called on the sector to improve its monitoring of all issues around road conditions and uses and then the results must be communicated to people, organisations and governments who can make a difference.
“We’ve got to make the politicians and the public aware of the importance of roads as a benefit to all our communities,” he said.
