N°381Content

When the next issue of Routes/Roads is released, the Association will be gathered in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) for its 26th World Road Congress. This event will mark the fruitful outcome of extensive preparatory work, undertaken over a four-year period, during which more than 1,000 experts from around the world will have provided input to the 23 Technical Committees and Task Forces, assembled into 5 Strategic Themes and tasked with this effort. As these experts apply the finishing touches to the agendas of their technical sessions, I'd like to take this opportunity to laud the accomplishments of all involved, especially the Committee Chairs and Secretaries. As of now, we've already published some ten technical reports for the Association's 2016-2019 activity cycle, with many others undergoing final revision. Such productivity is most encouraging and suggests that a majority of these reports will indeed be published before the Congress opens, thus making it possible to cite and discuss them among the various delegations.

The diversity of approaches on display in this issue of Routes/Roads reveals the current level of interest in the topic by road agencies, which everywhere must meet the dual objective of optimizing infrastructure use while allocating adequate financial resources to facility maintenance.