Skip to main content

ERIC2016 in Leeds, UK: asset management rethink

From 18th October to 20th October 2016, the European Union Road Federation (ERF), in partnership with the Road Safety markings Association (RSMA) will present the 1st European Road Infrastructure Congress (ERIC2016) in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, UK
November 9, 2016 Read time: 3 mins

From 18th October to 20th October 2016, the European Union Road Federation (ERF), in partnership with the Road Safety markings Association (RSMA) will present the 1st European Road Infrastructure Congress (ERIC2016) in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, UK

The City of Leeds, at the heart of the UK’s Northern Powerhouse Corridor has been chosen as the host for the 1st European Road Infrastructure Congress.

The 5149 Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA), an active member of the ERF for more than 10 years, has invited the 7575 ERF to jointly organise the first European Road Infrastructure Congress, together with the celebration of its 40th anniversary.

There is nowadays an overwhelming consensus that delivery and procurement models for road and its related equipment suffer from several shortcomings. To get true value for money there is a need to explore new concepts and models for the delivery of a safe and sustainable infrastructure that will look, among other things at key concepts.

The general theme of ERIC2016 is ‘Driving the road to European Prosperity’. The focus is on how to improve the products, solutions, services and delivery of Europe’s road system.

Attendees will hear policymakers, road authorities, academics, research laboratories and industry representatives from across Europe and other countries exchange good practices and present new research findings.

ERIC2016 will focus on existing legal frameworks across Europe concerning public procurement for roads and identification of good practices. It will also cover opportunities offered by the new legal and policy tools, such as the revision of the Directive for Public Procurement and voluntary Green Public Procurement Criteria.

And it will investigate how European standards can provide authorities and industry with common methodologies for assessing life-cycle of different road products. It will also investigate how authorities can make use of existing tools to provide industry with the right incentives in order to stimulate innovation. Other topics in focus will be lengthening the maintenance cycle for road projects as well as road user charging schemes and acceptability.

The programme will be structured around three major topics, the delivery of road infrastructure, safe road infrastructure and technology and adaptation.

In addition to public and private infrastructure managers, other actors are also concerned such as the academic sector. Universities will have the opportunity to openly discuss topics of R&D during four sessions specifically dedicated to them, as will industrial and professional organisations, and, of course, the members of RSMA and ERF.

Venue: Leeds, Royal Armouries Museum
Dates: 18th – 20th October 2016


A message from the Director General of the ERF

Most of us use roads every day and we all tend to take them for granted. Considerable investments have been made during the past 50 years in order to provide citizens with modern road infrastructures. However, the aspect of preservation and maintenance of the road asset has not followed the same pace.

Our roads are in danger and many surveys indicate that the backlog of outstanding road maintenance has caused irreversible deterioration of the road network, with related consequences on road safety, impact on the environment and a reduced services for the road user.

Most asset managers across the world agree that the only way to manage our roads so that they meet both needs and aspirations is to carry out regular surveys and undertake regular planned maintenance.

Let us all gather in Leeds, in the United Kingdom, from 18th to 20th October 2016 for the European Road Infrastructure Congress (%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.eric2016.eu Visit www.eric2016.eu false http://www.eric2016.eu/ false false%>) to share our common concern regarding the management of the road asset, exchange our experiences, knowledge and best practices, but also look together to the future efficient management of our major community asset: roads.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Spreading knowledge on European standards beyond Europe
    October 8, 2015
    Europe is a global leader in road safety. It has an average of 50 traffic fatalities/million population, half that of the equivalent figure for the USA While there is no magical formula for improving road safety, it is possible to observe a positive correlation between the advent of performance-based standards for essential road equipment and the impressive reduction in road fatalities that Europe has seen since 2001, a drop of 50%.
  • ERF and AVTODOR cement safety cooperation to cut casualty toll
    January 9, 2015
    One of the ERF’s principal tasks to is act as a platform for sharing best practice between countries in the field of road safety. While this activity has traditionally been handled at the European Union level, the current gloomy economic environment within Europe has forced the ERF to rethink its mandate and make the promotion of expertise a priority It is in this context that the ERF, in cooperation with the state company Russian Highways - AVTODOR - joined forces to organise a landmark event in the fie
  • Road safety at the core of future mobility
    May 18, 2020
    The ERF participated in the recent 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in Stockholm, Sweden
  • TRA competitions announced
    January 20, 2017
    Two TRA Visions Competitions are being launched to attract interest from transport researchers. TRA Visions 2018 invites young and senior researchers from all over Europe to submit innovative transport concepts to www.travisions.eu, which was launched last 20th December 2016. The two European-funded TRA Visions 2018 competitions - one for young researchers and the second for senior researchers - have now commenced. Young and senior researchers throughout Europe are invited to submit innovative concepts on f