Road transport research blooms Across the EU, strong new projects and partnerships in transport research are set to upgrade travel, increase safety and create a more ecological transport model on land. Industrial Technologies © Thinkstock Greener, more sustainable and efficient road transport is an important feature of a successful modern society. Advancing transport within the European Research Area Network (ERA-NET) Scheme would bring many advantages to Europeans, a challenge that was tackled by the EU-funded 'ERA-NET ROAD II' (ENR2) project. The overarching goals of ENR2 were to embed the culture of collaboration in road research, instigate new partnerships in transport research and strengthen the ERA in this field. To achieve its aims, the project identified priorities in transnational research and worked on disseminating research results to European stakeholders. Bringing together 21 countries, ENR2 organised several research calls, built an online database on road transport research and linked with related European Technology Platforms (ETPs). This helped streamline the availability of data and reduce duplication of research efforts, in addition to enhancing coordination between national and regional road research programmes. Highlighting its achievements and results on the ENR2 website (http://www.eranetroad.org) the project led to numerous joint research initiatives on a variety of cutting-edge topics and developments in the transport sector. These included impact assessment of intelligent transport systems, safety optimisation of road networks, durable construction methods and reduction of maintenance costs. Other key research topics that helped launch joint projects included sustainability and energy-efficient management of roads, as well as mobility on road networks and traffic management. Research on the topic received a boost from a newly developed toolkit that features recommendations and suggestions on coordinating and identifying research topics of mutual interest. The toolkit outlined how to articulate topics and define real research needs before launching a call for transnational research projects. In effect, these efforts helped align transport research policy agendas across the EU and advance research on road transport considerably. The EU's road transport system is already a relatively advanced one, particularly in central and northern Europe. These research projects are likely to advance it to state-of-the-art–level and help the rest of the continent’s road systems move forward rapidly.
