The project "Sustainability – National Road Administrations" (SUNRA) is essentially about the environment and energy, but also takes into account economic and social aspects.
Common vision needed
Among state road administrations in Europe, a great deal of development work is taking place in order to environmentally adapt and improve road construction and maintenance.
– The various national road administrations however work in different ways. They also have different views as to what sustainable development really means for the road sector, says Lennart Folkeson, researcher at VTI.
– There is a need for a common view as to how the concept of sustainable development should be interpreted and applied in the road transport sector.
– We will also look for a rating system that makes it possible for the national road administrations to compare themselves with each other and benefit from each other's successes and experiences.
Better documentation and continuous improvement
The idea is that the project will make it easier for the national road administrations in Europe to document their contribution to sustainability over time, encourage continuous improvement and facilitate cost-effective and sustainable choices.
The project will also highlight the role the national road administrations have with regard to sustainable development. A common rating system and a pedagogical approach are therefore required to demonstrate how sustainable the national road administrations' activities are. An evaluation system like this should also be able to point to appropriate measures that can be taken to make adjustments at different stages and aspects of road planning, construction and maintenance.
– The measurement system will also be used to evaluate the various tenderers in procurement procedures, particularly with regard to how contractors comply with environmental requirements, says Lennart Folkeson.
In order to facilitate its implementation, the rating system will be developed in close co-operation with selected national road administrations in Europe.
Final report 2013
The report on the project will be finalised in December 2013 and the results will be communicated, among other means, via a web site and at an international conference.
The Project Coordinator is TRL, Transport Research Laboratory, VTI's counterpart in the United Kingdom. Other partners include TNO in the Netherlands, DTU in Denmark and the consulting firm CH2M HILL, Ireland.
The project is funded by the ERA-NET ROAD which is a consortium of fifteen state national road administrations, including the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), working together for improvements in the exchange of information within road research in Europe.