BACKGROUND

There is a need to build an understanding of the external factors that will influence the management of national road networks over the coming 20-30 years. These will include the predicted performance of the asset, projected traffic forecasts, potential impact of climate change and how all of this may be impacted by limited funding. With demand for a single interlinked European road network (Future European Road Network (2009)), the ability to provide optimised planning and maintenance strategies is likely to become even more important. The RE-GEN hypothesis is that adopting a network-wide probabilistic risk based approach will provide a scientific structure to (i) ensure safe lifecycle analysis of the road assets and (ii) to inform key decisions regarding prioritised maintenance expenditure.  The risk based approach will ensure optimised lifecycle performance of the infrastructure, within the context of evolving traffic demands and climate change effects. The proposed framework will consider the different types of risk faced by national road administrations – for example, safety risk, such as structural safety, financial risk, such as that arising from a maintenance backlog, or by managing the increasing demand for emergency repairs, operational risk, commercial risk and reputational risk. This risk methodology can then be used by national road administrations for the development of asset management policies, to communicate with stakeholders and to support funding submissions.