25 September 2018 | Brussels, Belgium

Dominique Riquet, Member of the European Parliament, hosted the event ‘What place for the maintenance of infrastructure in the next EU MFF’ to discuss how the upcoming EU budget could contribute to make road transport infrastructures more efficient, cleaner and modern.

ERF, FIEC and Caisse des Dépôts Group co-organised the conference that gathered representatives from the road sector, financing institutions, infrastructure managers, national governments and European Commission. Panelists exchanged good practices and discussed how to invest funds more effectively and coherently, especially in a period with higher traffic volumes and huge backlog in maintenance. that is accelerating a prompt ageing of our infrastructures.

A considerable part of the road network in Europe was built decades ago, thus reaching now a critical age and creating real hazards for users. In addition, scarcity in public funding has originated an unprecedented degradation of the condition of the network mainly in local or regional roads and bridges. The increase of financial resources, especially in the next Connecting Europe Facility, Cohesion and Regional Development funds, represents the immediate and urgent solution for preservation and upgrading operations.

Participants agreed on the need of a comprehensive approach to preserve the transport infrastructure. This incorporates principles of asset management, planning, prioritisation and sound strategies of maintenance. New ways of financing and governance could also facilitate deployment of European policies. These ways should be based on circular economy, respect the environment, rely on research and innovation, digitalisation, take advantage of industry competitiveness while simultaneously improving mobility for people and transport of goods.

In the view of current inter-institutional negotiations for the future budget, the road sector calls on the European Parliament, Council and Commission to consider infrastructure spending as a key investment to achieve main political priorities for a better Europe.

28 March 2018 | Nice, France

The Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit (PPRS2018) closed its second edition in Nice (France) on 28 March. Around 1000 attendants participated in 16 dedicated sessions to maintenance on the infrastructure asset complemented by three major plenary sessions.

While the first edition aimed at raising awareness of regulators and decision-makers, this year´s event represents a continuation in the action by identifying and promoting successful experiences to develop a road infrastructure safer, smarter and more sustainable following latest mobility trends.

PPRS is the response of the industry to the current challenges faced by the transport sector. Concretely, the 3–days event had the main objectives main objectives:

•  Discussion of current road maintenance and modernisation practices including follow-up of conclusions adopted during last summit in Paris
•  Identification of opportunities, solutions to overcome challenges and adaption to new social, economic and environmental scenario
•  Incorporation of latest technologies and innovative solutions to achieve policy goals in the mobility sector both in urban and non-urban areas

The event has been consolidated as a unique opportunity for all stakeholders, from public and private sectors, to present their latest developments and get better acquainted with good practices from like-minded professionals around the globe.

29 November 2017 | Brussels, Belgium

On 14 November, the Belgian Association representing the major Belgian construction companies (ADEB-VBA) organised a seminar at the ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) on the topic of “Public Transport Infrastructure Asset Management – Trends and Challenges”.

This event gathered representatives from Belgian road authorities, academics and construction industries and gave the speakers the opportunity to present some examples of recent developments in transport infrastructure asset management. During this seminar, Christophe Nicodème, Director General of the ERF, delivered a presentation on the ‘UK experience on Asset Management of roads’, and in particular some examples of successful PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives).

The presentations were followed by an intense roundtable debate with representatives from the public and private sectors.

15 February 2016 | Paris, France

Alain Vidalies, the French State Secretary in charge of Transport, Sea and Fisheries, announced an investment plan for 2016 concerning the maintenance of the national roads and waterways. The French government intends to allocate an additional €150 million to the €300 million already planned in operations for upgrading national roads.

Mr Vidalies decided to make maintenance a priority, as he believes roads and waterways infrastructure to be a vital part of the French economy.

Investing in the maintenance of these networks is will immediately result to new job positions, and it will generate further business activity, both for companies and authorities.

In 2015, Alain Vidalies had launched an initial investment plan of € 100 million in existing networks, thus over 150 projects were then launched. The investment plan for 2016 is the highest in the last 10 years.

28 January 2016 | Brussels, Belgium

Last week, the Vice-President of the Walloon Government and Minister for Public Works, Traffic Safety and Waterways, presented the Walloon Government’s ambitious Infrastructure Plan for 2016-2019.

This plan, endowed with unprecedented budgetary resources of € 640 million is articulated around four axes:
– The continued rehabilitation of highways (€ 128 million);
– Renovation and safety for the secondary road network (€ 347.5 million) – i.e. 54% of the whole budget
– The development of “Roads of Employment” (€ 89.5 million);
– Investments in Inland waterways (€ 75 million).

The Infrastructure Plan is the result of collaboration and concerted methodology with the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm, commissioned to study the major infrastructure challenges in Wallonia and socio-economic gains associated with its maintenance and its strategic development.

It deploys a strategy of investment in order to meet a selection of highest priority structuring needs for Wallonia in terms of rehabilitation, security, mobility and sustainable economic development.

Thanks to this unprecedented budget and a clear control and time setting, this plan is estimated to generate between € 418 and € 624 million of added value and contribute to the creation of between 5800 and 8300 new jobs.

Needs are substantial and resources are limited. Therefore, it was imperative to develop a strong methodological approach to identify priority projects with maximum relevance and transparency. This was the sine qua non for deploying the strategic vision aiming at the socio-economic development of Wallonia.

Different strategic directions were established, among which:

• Devoted resources for the rehabilitation of surfaces and bridges (with a special investment for rehabilitation of bridges with critical conditions)
• Sufficient means for guaranteeing safe road sections and urban crossings
• Strengthen complementarity between transport modes
• Integrate roads into their environment

This plan required a significant inventory of the Walloon road network; this was done through the “GPS” Plan (Gestion des Projets Routiers – Management of Road Projects). This plan listed all the requirements and weighed them according to different criteria.

The Plan will be implemented with the highest quality standards and a continuous quality control will be applied through the whole process (from first sketches to the final work control).

The original budget of € 320 million, which was planned to be financed by the kilometer levy for trucks over 3.5 tonnes (implemented as from April 2016), has doubled to reach € 640 million, in order to respond more relevant and effective needs expressed. The extent of such an investment will not only enable the modernisation of the Walloon road and river infrastructure, but will also foster the socio-economic development of the region.

Information can be found on  http://www.n931.be/images/Pdf/Documents/PLan-infrastructure-2016_2019.pdf