Relevant Organisations & Websites

PIARC (World Road Association)

	La Grande Arche, Paroi nord niveau 8, 92055 La Defense, France piarc@wanadoo.fr +33 (1) 4796 8121 www.piarc.org PIARC was established in 1909 as a non-profit organisation to promote international co-operation on issues related to roads infrastructure and transport. Its aim is to be the world leader in providing information on roads and road transport policy and practices within an integrated sustainable transport context. PIARC's most important activity is operating technical committees. Their work is focused on producing reports on best practice and recommendations in their respective fields in order to assist decision makers, road engineers and research engineers. These committees cover five topics: (i) road technology; (ii) road transport, liveability and sustainable development; (iii) roads and road transport operations; (iv) management and administration of the road system; and (v) appropriate levels of road and road transport development. These committees arrange seminars and meet frequently in order to promote technology transfer among member countries. PIARC also organise the World Road Congress which takes place every four years. Its web site contains information about PIARC institutional structure, programme projects and activities. It includes a list and contact details of members. Additionally, it includes information on the activities of each technical committee, technical reports and documents on each specialised topic. PIARC produces a quarterly news and information magazine on the latest developments in the highways field along with news of interest to the road community that can be accessed on-line. PIARC has also set up a network of road-related information and knowledge transfer centres, the World Interchange Network (WIN). Finally, the web site includes a link to the Highway Development and Management System project (HDM-4). This is a software system for investigating choices in investing in road transport infrastructure. This project is co-ordinated by PIARC.