NR2C - New Road Construction Concept
Overview
Background & policy context:
Civil infrastructure systems represent huge public investments and are expected to provide services for very long periods of time. Their use spans several generations during which society will experience dramatic changes. This lengthy time span means that future developments in the transport of goods and people must be assessed and planned well in advance in order to make the right choices, not only for today but also for tomorrow. Looking ahead into the future and considering probable developments in society enables us to search for proper solutions.
The combination of constant increase in the number of road vehicles and the subsequent rise in traffic volumes and axle loads speed up developments like congestion, wear and tear of structures and, last but not least, air pollution and noise emissions. This evolution is going fast, in any case faster than over the past twenty years.
The road sector faces huge challenges, including ambitious demands such as better, quicker and cheaper production, construction and maintenance. To minimise downtime of roads for maintenance activities, the overall quality of the constructions has to be upgraded. The time slots available for repair and rehabilitation works are becoming tighter and tighter, which means that maintenance techniques have to be speeded up. Furthermore, the environmental regulations with respect to air pollution and noise emissions by traffic and the use of natural raw materials are becoming more and more stringent.
These developments also led to a new series of questions and problems.
It is thus of our responsibility to search what future road infrastructure will look like, in order to initiate today the necessary changes and advancements so that future roads and streets will continue to meet our growing transport needs, in a safer, more effective and comfortable way.
This challenge to preserve for future generations living conditions that are both functional and pleasant, calls for two main conditions:
- to turn our working methods to more global approaches, more centered on 'human' aspects;
- to develop efficient techniques, methods and tools, respectful of the environment and energy consumption, in support of renewed and innovating design and management approaches.
This requires a significant effort in the field of research and development.
Objectives:
NR2C was a quest for conceptual and technical answers to the mobility and transport demands of the future, and aimed at generating future-oriented initiatives for addressing accessibility problems and issues related to road infrastructure.
The objective of the project to be pursued in dialogue and cooperation with all actors concerned (such as road infrastructure owners, decisions makers, experts, users, road industry) was to develop long-term perspectives, concrete pilot studies and research recommendations, linking long-term visions and ideas to short-term actions (the vision can be considered as a focal point for policy-makers and engineers in taking the right decisions concerning use, design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure).
More in detail the project aimed to:
- Firstly, provide long-term perspectives for the road infrastructure (vision 2040), which reconciles future transport needs, expected users and social demands, and sustainability goals. This means to develop new concepts for the road of the future (high quality, cost-effective, low noise, environmentally friendly, safer, risk mitigating, low maintenance, while facilitating traffic mobility and inter-modality).
- Secondly, implement concrete short-term actions by developing specific innovations that will support this long-term vision, these innovations being relevant to the following three fields: urban infrastructure, interurban infrastructure and civil engineering structures.
Methodology:
A specific group of activities (WP) was dedicated to the global concept and to each of the three specialised fields:
- Development of new concepts for the road of the future (WP0);
- Innovations for urban and suburban infrastructure (WP 1);
- Innovations for interurban infrastructure (WP 2);
- Innovations for civil engineering structures (WP 3).
Based on large surveys carried out on road stakeholders, NR2C identified safe and environmentally friendly infrastructure construction and maintenance concepts. Innovative concepts were ranked and the most promising developed for further studies, aimed at establishing feasibility and clarifying unsolved problems.
All NR2C project activities were carried out in three phases:
- Phase 1 – survey and analysis: this phase is designed to clearly identify future user needs and expectations. It consists of enquiries, surveys, focus workshops and brainstorming sessions to build the vision. In parallel, state-of-the-art reports on innovations in urban and interurban areas and concerning bridges are provided.
- Phase 2 – assessment and selection: during this phase, innovations, feasibility studies and preliminary models are carefully assessed and the most promising ones selected for further development.
- Phase 3 – testing and recommendations: innovations selected in Phase 2 undergo detailed design, laboratory or pilot tests, which lead to specific recommendations.
Finally, in the continuity of the NR2C vision concepts, and taking in account Europe concerns, emblematic future research projects have been identified.
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