Spain study visit II 2021
A Romanian delegation with representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Romanian Road Authority (ARR) and the National Company for Road Administration (CNAIR) accompanied by ETSC, participated on 17-18 November 2021 in a study visit on the topic of safe road infrastructure safety in Madrid, Spain.
The visit was hosted by the Directorate for Traffic (DGT) and the Spanish Ministry for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, partners in the EU Road Safety Exchange project, and included several visits on the ground to see infrastructure projects, presentations and discussions with the relevant stakeholders.
EU #RoadSafetyExchange is back in Spain 馃嚜馃嚫 this week, with Romanian 馃嚪馃嚧 colleagues to take a look at road infrastructure safety management. Thanks to @mitmagob @DGTes for all the preparation. Muchas gracias! pic.twitter.com/WvcONoTm2Q
European Transport Safety Council (@ETSC_EU) November 18, 2021
During the first day of the visit, the Romanian delegation, accompanied by experts at the Spanish Ministry of Transport, went on the road to Segovia, seeing Madrid’s urban BYPASS, M-30, to take the A-1 highway. During the trip, they received explanations of the characteristics of the Northern road network out of Madrid and the available safety features.
The group visited the Somosierra Tunnel Monitoring Centre Facilities on the A-1 highway. Here they received explanations of tunnel safety equipment, the winter road safety equipment and discussed with representatives of the centre and the ministry. They were also introduced to the Spanish approach to different road safety procedures such as audits and inspections.
Next, the group drove to Segovia on the N-110 conventional road, with description of the specific road safety measures in place i.e. barrier systems to protect motorcyclists, safety ditches, specific protection systems for road crossings, slow lanes, experimental tests of new road markings.
After a short stop in Segovia, the delegation continued the study visit to a second maintenance and operation centre. Here they received a presentation on the maintenance and safety activities carried out and also of road safety applications and procedures, road safety management tools, studies of collision concentration stretches, sections with high potential for improvement with high savings in accident-related costs, road safety inspections, road safety research lines.
On the return trip to Madrid, the group drove through the Guadarrama Tunnels, receiving an explanation about reversible tunnels and the BUS-VAO i.e. central lanes of reversible circulation, for vehicles with high occupancy.
馃摚La delegaci贸n de Transportes de Ruman铆a 馃嚪馃嚧 ha visitado esta semana alguna de nuestras carreteras, adem谩s del Centro de Gesti贸n de Tr谩fico DGT en Madrid, para conocer el funcionamiento de los sistemas de regulaci贸n y gesti贸n del tr谩fico en Espa帽a #RoadSafetyExchange @ETSC_EU pic.twitter.com/fc83PwoSOM
Dir. Gral. Tr谩fico (@DGTes) November 18, 2021
The second day, the Romanian delegation visited the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). From there, they took a guided tour of several roads to observe the facilities and solutions implemented by DGT to improve road safety.
The DGT experts explained the ITS intelligent transport systems equipment located on the A-2, as well as the adaptation that has been carried out in a crossing of Torrej贸n del Rey (Guadalajara). Then the group had the opportunity to see a section with longitudinal sound guides milled from the edge of a conventional road, smart crossings, speed indicators or the operation of section speed cameras with photovoltaic energy and 3G communications.
After this tour, the delegation visited the Madrid Traffic Management Center where they were able to learn first-hand about the operation of the systems with which traffic is regulated and managed in Spain.
The Romanian delegation and the Spanish hosts were keen to continue the sharing of good practice in improving road infrastructure safety and appreciated the role of the exchange project in pushing forward progress and finding solutions to common issues.