Every four years, the World Road Association PIARC organizes World Road Congresses and, with a certain time lag, International Winter Road Congresses. These congresses serve as a presentation of activities and work of technical committees over the previous period and as an opportunity for member countries and all members to present progress in all areas of road infrastructure and transport.
During the renewed functioning of the PIARC National Committee Slovakia several congresses were held:
Prague
The XXVIIth PIARC World Road Congress with the motto „Together on the road again„ will take place in Prague, from 2 to 6 October 2023. In addition to the PIARC, the organizers are the Czech Road Society and the Slovak Road Association with support of the Ministries of Transport in the Czech and the Slovak Republic.
Two teams of authors have elaborated national reports. A report on topic No. 3 "New challenges and initiatives to improve safety and sustainability" was prepared by a team from the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic led by Mr. Roman Török. A report on topic 4 "Resilient infrastructure from cradle to grave – improved management of the life cycle of road infrastructure during digital transformation" was prepared by a team of authors led by Mr. Zsolt Boros.
Our experts submitted 15 abstracts on specific topics, 14 of which were accepted.
In addition to these activities, Slovakia will present itself at the congress with booths within the Czech & Slovak Pavilion, will organize a technical excursion "Bypass and Bratislava Bridges" in form of trips before and after the congress and thus will contribute to the cultural and social programme of the congress.
More information about the congress programme and accompanying events can be found at www.wrc2023prague.org
Calgary
From February 7 to 11, 2022, the XVIth World Road Congress of Winter Service and Road Resilience, subtitled: Adapting to a changing world, took place in Calgary, Canada. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the congress was held online.
Slovakia was represented by 3 contributions. The first was prepared by Mr. Ján Šedivý and Mr. Marcel Horváth on the topic "Implementation of winter maintenance in the conditions of the regional road manager", the second on the topic „Reconstruction of old rigid pavement for increasing resilience in regard of its performance and frost resistance“ prepared by Mr. Zsolt Boros and the last one themed " Fibre – modified asphalt mixture – evaluation of five years of experience from the experimental section“ was prepared by a team of authors headed by Ms. Silvia Cápayová.
The participants of the congress were addressed in a short video greeting by Mr. Andrej Doležal, Minister of Transport of the Slovak Republic, who presented Slovakia, its road network and outlined an approach to solving the issue of winter maintenance. In conclusion, he informally invited the delegates of the Calgary Congress to the 27th World Road Congres PIARC in Prague.
Information about the congress programme and accompanying events can be found at https://www.piarc-calgary2022.org/congress/ or at www.piarc.org
Abu Dhabi
The XXVIth World Road Congress subtilted „Connecting Culture, Enabling Economies“ took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 6-10 October 2019. Slovak experts prepared two national reports and six contributions on professional topics. The national report entitled "Innovative transport solutions to optimize access and mobility" was prepared by a team of authors from the universities of Žilina and Bratislava and presented at the congress by Mr. Ján Čelko. The second national report on "Safety of the Road System" was prepared by a team from the Ministry of Transport led by Mr. Roman Török, who also presented it at the congress.
Six papers were related to the characteristics of the roads. Two of them titled „Porous cement concrete base course for rigid pavements – A Czech approach for airfield pavement design and related case studies” and „Use of concrete block pavers“, were presented at the congress by Mr. Zsolt Boros. The remaining four were published as part of a poster session. Two lectures entitled „Homogenisation layer – a green and innovative answer for reconstruction of old cement-concrete roads via their adaptation to the asphalt road focuses on maximising of reuse of local material and environment“ and „New approach to greener and sustainable polymer modified asphalt roads” were prepared by a team of authors led by Mr. Zsolt Boros, one lecture titled „ Possibility to differentiate stiffness of various asphalt pavement structures using surface waves velocity for interpretation of the falling weight deflectometer time history“ was prepared by Mr. Jozef Komačka and the last one titled „Pavement design and road structure with the respect to climate changes and quality of materials „ was prepared by a team of authors from a Bratislava university under the leadership of Mr. Ivan Gschwendt.
At an accompanying exhibition booth under the banner of Prague as the venue of the future congress, representatives of the SRA presented, among other things,successes of Slovak companies. More than 30 representatives from various organizations from Slovakia were present at the congress.
The participants witnessed a ceremonial signing of the Declaration on cooperation in the preparation and implementation of the congress in Prague. This document, signed at the PIARC booth by the representatives of the Slovak Road Association, the Czech Road Society and both ministries responsible for transport in the presence of senior officials of this institution, was perceived as an act of a very good cooperation between two member countries.
More information about the congress can be obtained at www.piarcabudhabi2019.org or at www.piarc.org
Gdansk
The XVth International Winter Road Congress, subtitled "Providing a safe and sustainable winter road service", took place in Gdańsk, Poland, from 20 to 23 February 2018. Slovakia submitted one contribution with the title „Performation of winter service in National Motorway Company (NMC) in Slovakia, elaborated by Mr. Ján Šedivý and a team of authors from NMC and presented by Mr. Ladislav Dudáš. The Slovak Road Association together with the Czech Road Society had a common booth at the accompanying exhibition, which attracted much attention from the visitors.
More information about the congress can be obtained at https://proceedings-gdansk2018.piarc.org
