STA Newsletter
Issue # January - February 2023
A bi-monthly online journal providing news and background about activities undertaken by STA with a view to improving the methods, technologies and standards associated to transportation infrastructures.
STA Sub-Committee on Road Restraint Systems: Results of Study Shared with NRAs
The exchange served to explore several avenues to better approval and certification processes of RRS in Europe.
One of the most active Sub-Committees within STA’s Technical Committee on Safety & Security (TC2) has just concluded a long-term body of work to make Road Restraint Systems (RRS) safer for the future.
The study has been going on since 2016 and has united 11 STA members and several renowned academicians and experts. It is safe to say that the investigation into a number of existing RRS products on the market has yielded very interesting and revolutionary results.
The preliminary results of the study were shared with 50+ representatives from European National Road Authorities during an online webinar held on 7 March 2023 organised by the Conference of European Road Directors (CEDR). The webinar served to explore several avenues to better approval and certification processes of RRS in Europe.
STA Work Plan 2023 on Decarbonisation and Taxonomy of Transport Infrastructures
The Work Plan was created and approved during the first General Meeting of the year.
The Smart Transportation Alliance (STA) held its first General Meeting of 2023 on 24 February 2023. The gathering was kicked off by reviewing the achievements and biggest milestones of the past year.
For the upcoming year, and aside the ongoing workings on roadside safety, it was decided that the 2023 STA Annual Conference focuses on the decarbonisation and taxonomy of smart transport infrastructures. The members have built a joint pipeline of at least 5 technical publications and discussion papers on a wide set of topics.
“Dedicated ‘green corridors’ of new types of vehicles need to ‘green’ the supply chain over all distances.”
NEWS OF INTEREST
Guaranteeing Network Performance in a Fast-Changing Sector
How can infrastructure networks manage challenges and adapt to any budgetary constraints.
Keeping on top on transport system asset management and growing passenger expectations, while keeping long-term network availability and performance in mind as well as budgetary restrictions is a real challenge for public transport infrastructures today.
How a City’s Highway Geometry Evolves
A practical guide on how city administrators can refine infrastructure plans.
New road infrastructure typically requires a significant financial outlay, both for its construction and for its maintenance. But a new road can also benefit a city’s treasury by reducing commuting times, which can give road users more time to earn cash that the city taxes.
The University of Paris-Saclay developed a cost–benefit-based model to study the development of two common traffic-easing road types. The first is the urban freeway, which bisects a city, allowing traffic to bypass busy areas. The second is the ring road, which circles a city, allowing traffic to avoid its center.
Ireland to host Transport Research Arena (TRA) in 2024
The conference has launched a call for papers with a deadline on 17 April 2023.
The TRA2024 conference is the largest research and innovation conference on transport in Europe and will be held in the RDS Dublin from 14-18 April 2024. The first such conference was held in 2006 and it has taken place in a different European city every two years since then.