Activities

Through the activities of WP0 "new concepts for the road of the future", NR2C seeks to present an overview of possible future innovations and new concepts for European roads over the upcoming decades. To this end, a number of surveys are being carried out on the state of the art, expectations, trends and needs regarding social and economic developments, technological innovations for urban roadway systems, interrurban infrastructure and civil engineering structures. The results of these surveys will be collected in one report and presented in a dedicated workshop. The analysis will lead to ranking the innovations proposed for tomorrow's road transport systems. It will follow the development of the most promising innovations, to prove their feasibility, clarify unsolved problems, lay out a path towards their progressive implementation.

The development of specific innovations will be addressed in separate work packages:

• urban and suburban infrastructure (WP1)
• interrurban infrastructure (WP2)
• civil engineering structures (WP3)

By identifying research needs for the years to come, NR2C will also contribute to the implementation of the FEHRL Strategic Road Research Programme (SERRP III) for 2002-2006 and the elaboration of the programme for the following period with special regard to issues related to the construction and maintenance of roads.

The target group of NR2C activities includes national and regional highway authorities, the European Commission and a wide range of interest groups and European organisations representing the industry and users. These stakeholders are brought together in the project reference group, based upon the pre-existing FEHRL road research stakeholders group.

Task 1.0: International survey for an understanding of innovation related expectations and needs with respect to urban roadway systems
Task 1.1: Guidelines for public transit platform design to reinforce the attractiveness of the city
Task 1.3: Preliminary studies and model for an air pollution-abatement model, preliminary design of an innovative multimodal infrastructure and prototype development, analysis and assessment of research results

Innovations for interrurban roads (WP2) led by EPFL-LAVOC

Task 2.1: Survey to assess the state of the art within the framework of innovations for interrurban infrastructure
Task 2.2: Specifications, preliminary design and assessment of innovations
Task 2.3: Recommendations for future research on interrurban infrastructure

Innovations for civil engineering structures (WP3) led by JMI

Task 3.1: Survey of the problems encountered by managers and owners of civil engineering structures over the next four decades and state of the art of today's innovations and anticipated future innovations in the field
Task 3.2: New material properties and modelling
Task 3.3: Preliminary design of new slabs and new bridge structures
Task 3.4: Detailed design of new slabs and bridge structures
Task 3.5: Guidelines to design new slabs and bridge structures