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Joint road safety operations in tunnels and open
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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 236 (2017) 012096 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/236/1/012096
Joint road safety operations in tunnels and open roads
Adewole Adesiyun
1
, Antonio Avenoso
2
, Kallistratos Dionelis
3
, Liljana Cela
4
,
Christophe Nicodème
5
, Thierry Goger
1
and Carlo Polidori
6
1
Forum Des Laboratoires Nationaux Europeens De Recherche Routiere Boulevard de
la Woluwe 42, 1200,Brussels, Belgium
2
European Transport Safety Council, Avenue des Celtes 20, 1040, Brussels, Belgium
3
European Association with tolled motorways, bridges and tunnels, Rue Guimard, 15 -
B-1040, Brussels, Belgium
4
South East Europe Transport Observatory ,Omladinskih brigada 1, PO Box 14, 11198
Belgrade, Serbia
5
The European Union Road Federation, 6 Place Stéphanie, 1050,Brussels, Belgium
6
Italian Association of Road Safety Professionals, Via Bergamo 3 00198 Roma, Italy
E-mail: c.polidori@libero.it
Abstract. The objective of the ECOROADS project is to overcome the barrier established by
the formal interpretation of the two Directives 2008/96/EC and 2004/54/EC, which in practice
do not allow the same Road Safety Audits/Inspections to be performed inside tunnels. The
projects aims at the establishment of a common enhanced approach to road infrastructure and
tunnel safety management by using the concepts and criteria of the Directive 2008/96/CE on
road infrastructure safety management and the results of related European Commission (EC)
funded projects. ECOROADS has already implemented an analysis of national practices
regarding Road Safety Inspections (RSI), two Workshops with the stakeholders, and an
exchange of best practices between European tunnel experts and road safety professionals,
which led to the definition of common agreed safety procedures. In the second phase of the
project, different groups of experts and observers applied the above common procedures by
inspecting five European road sections featuring both open roads and tunnels in Belgium,
Albania, Germany, Serbia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This paper shows the
feedback of the 5 joint safety operations and how they are being used for a set of -
recommendations and guidelines for the application of the RSA and RSI concepts within the
tunnel safety operations.
1. Introduction
The general objective of the ECOROADS project is to overcome the barrier established by the formal
interpretation of the two Directives 2008/96/EC (on road infrastructure safety management) and
2004/54/EC (on tunnels), which in practice do not allow the same Road Safety Audits/Inspections to
be performed inside tunnels, as shown in Figure 1.
The main problem is that, while from the user (driver) point of view a road is a unique linear
infrastructure generally in open terrain and sometimes in closed environment (tunnels), the strict
application of the two Directives leads to a non-uniform approach to the infrastructure safety
management outside and inside tunnels.
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Figure 1. The “barrier” between the two EU Directives.
This project is the follow-up of the initiative related to the European Road Safety Directives and
the two workshops held at the European Social and Economic Committee (EESC) by a group of
international stakeholders in February and May 2013: a debate that was initiated as a result of the
coach crash in Switzerland that caused more than 28 fatalities, including 22 children.
The collision occurred in 2012 with the end wall of an emergency parking facility in the Sierre
tunnel, Switzerland, which was opened in 1999 and was rated as “good” in a 2005 European Tunnel
Assessment Programme (EuroTAP) test. The end wall was placed at 90 degrees with respect to the
direction of the adjacent traffic flow, without any adequate protection from collision.
Figure 2. Left: the lay-by in Sierre Tunnel. Source: [5]. Right: similar situation (source:
Hasani A., Albanian Roads Authority).
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This feature of tunnel design is typical of many European tunnels, as shown in Figure 2 (90° walls
without any protection), where operations such as RSA or RSI according to the prescriptions of the
Directive 2008/96/EC, could be beneficial for risk prevention.
Indeed, this Directive does not apply to road tunnels covered by Directive 2004/54/EC (Art.1, point
4 of the Directive 2008/96/CE)
On the other hand, Directive (2004/54/EC) does not deal directly with RSA or RSI inside the
tunnels. There is only a general statement about taking "all aspects of the system composed of the
infrastructure, operation, users and vehicles" into account in Annex 1. Different interpretation and
application by Member States may further amplify the gap between the two Directives.
The ECOROADS consortium submitted to the European Commission a proposal aiming at the
deployment of mixed groups of tunnel and road safety experts performing joint safety inspections in
both tunnels and open roads, in order to find a common agreed inspection methodology able to
enhance safety in roads and tunnels. The project has been financed by the European Commission and
started in June 2015
2. Methodology
The overall approach of the ECOROADS is based on the previous successfully project Pilot4Safety
[1] and is divided into several phases, including a clear overview of the application of the two
Directives in the Member States, a series of workshops with the stakeholders (European tunnel and
road managers), and the exchange of best practices between European experts in the two fields:
Clear overview of the application of the two Directives in the Member States and the extent of the
gap between them already described in the previous section. Such an overview has been conducted on
the basis of the results of two previous studies on the effectiveness of the Directive 2008/96/EC[2]
Figure 3. ECOROADS Methodology.
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and on the implementation and effects of Directive 2004/54/EC [3], plus direct contact with several
infrastructure managers.
Workshops with the stakeholders (European tunnel and road managers from at least 10 European
countries), organized according to the following Figure 3:
2.1. Joint Audit/Inspection procedures
During the Seminar for exchange of best practices on RSA/ RSI at open roads and tunnels, and during
dedicated meetings among the ECOROADS partnership, held between November 2015 and January
2016, a preliminary procedure has been agreed, based on the following considerations.
The Directive 2008/96/EC applies to road sections of the Trans-European Transport Network,
whether they are at design stage, under construction or in operation. Its provisions may also be applied
to national road transport infrastructure, not being part of the TEN-T but constructed - entirely or
partly - using Community financial assistance.
Based on a large literature review, the Pilot4Safety Project Handbook [4] concluded to the
following consolidated definitions of RSA and RSI:
• Road Safety Audit describes a systematic and independent examination of a project designed
to highlight potential safety issues at the earliest possible stage of planning and construction,
to reduce or eliminate these problems and limit the risk for different types of road users.
• Road Safety Inspection is a preventive safety management tool implemented by road
authorities/ operators as part of a global Road Safety Management. A RSI is a systematic field
survey organised sufficiently frequently on all existing roads or sections of a road to secure
adequate safety levels. It is carried out by trained road safety experts to identify hazardous
conditions and deficiencies that may lead to serious accidents. RSI results in a formal report
on detected road hazards and safety issues.
The Directive on Tunnels (2004/54/EC) makes reference to periodic inspections carried out by the
tunnel’s Inspection Entity at maximum intervals of 6 years for any given tunnel; it requires a Safety
Documentation (Annex II), which describes the processes for approval of the design, for opening of a
tunnel, for modifications in the physical and operational characteristics of a tunnel and for performing
periodic exercises for tunnel staff and emergency services, and includes the content and results of a
Risk Analysis.
Regarding the typical processes of the distinct Road/ Tunnel Safety procedures described above,
both RSA/ RSI and tunnel safety inspection (TSI) contain the assignment from the Client/ Assignor
(responsible authority/ body/ unit) and an independent approach by the assignee (Auditor/ Inspection
Team) to perform the appropriate activities and report back, with interaction between two sides before
and after the duration of these activities and reporting.
Therefore, compared to RSA/ RSI, other procedures are foreseen for safety assessment of tunnels
that are subjected to the Tunnel Directive.
To this end, the ECOROADS objective was to experiment on the incorporation of the tunnels’
safety procedures in an integrated approach for joint safety operations at both tunnels and open roads,
with focus on road safety. The ECOROADS approach is purely “operational” and finalized to an
integrated practical approach that is going to be substantiated in practical guidelines and
recommendations.
On the basis of the feedback from the 1st project Workshop held in September 2015 and the
Seminar for exchange of best practices held in November 2015, and considering the experimental
approach of the project, the following categories of involvement in the field tests process are foreseen:
• Infrastructure (Road/ Tunnel) Manager(s): the administration/ authority/ manager(s) of the
road/ tunnel infrastructure of each of the ECOROADS field tests.
• Host organisation: The organisation/ authority that organises and facilitates the field test.
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• Audit/ Inspection Group: the mixed international team of (road/ tunnel) experts and other
stakeholders that will take part in a field test. It consists of the Core Audit/ Inspection Team,
the “External” observers, the Facilitator , internal observer and other experts.
• Core Audit/ Inspection Team: the mixed international team of experts that are assigned/
authorised to jointly and independently perform an audit/ inspection visit.
• “External” Observers: stakeholders with different competences, representing different
authorities accompanying the Core Audit/ Inspection Team in a field test.
• Facilitators: local/national experts ensuring organisation, communication and cooperation
between the infrastructure manager(s) and the project.
• ECOROADS “Internal” Observer: A member of the ECOROADS consortium.
• Other “External Experts” and Stakeholders: other local and national interested parties (incl.
road user groups) providing complementary information to each Core Audit/ Inspection Team.
The roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in the field tests and their interactions are
schematically presented in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Roles and responsibilities of parties involved in ECOROADS field tests.
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The Deliverable D5.1, available on the website of the ECOROADS project [5], describes the
common organisational and technical details for the performance of the ECOROADS joint road safety
operations. In the same deliverable it is also explained how these procedures are built on the basis of
the Audit and Inspection approach agreed during the Pilot4Safety project.
3. Results
After a call for expression of interest, ECOROADS received 15 applications with a road stretch
dossier and a letter of commitment duly signed by the owner of the infrastructure; in August 2015 a
specific project committee selected 5 sites and then the operation started as in the following Table1.
Table 1. Overview of the 5 test sites.
TEST SITE, Country
Dates
of the
joint
visits
N. of
Experts
(core
team)
N. of
Observers
N. of
other
Experts
Tunnel
type
and
length
Length
of open
road
inspected
KENNEDY TUNNEL,
Belgium
07-08
March
2016
3 3 6
2 tubes,
690 m
each
1200 m
KRRABE TUNNEL,
Albania
05-06
April
2016
4 4 5
2 tubes,
2230 m
and
2500m
1500 m
TUNNEL RENNSTEIG,
Germany
17-18
August
2016
3 3 4
2 tubes,
7916 m
each
400 m
TUNNEL STRAZEVICA,
Serbia
27-28
Sept.r
2016
3 1 12
Single
tube
745 m
650 m
TUNNEL DEMIR KAPIJA,
Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia
18-19
October
2016
4 0 9
Single
tube
554 m
400 m
For the scope of the ECOROADS project, the transition area between an open road and a tunnel
has been defined: as a minimum requirement, it is intended as the sum of: a) the distance calculated as
the distance covered in 10 seconds by a vehicle travelling at the speed limit before the tunnel portal
and b) the stopping distance inside the tunnel after the portal, for a vehicle travelling at speed limit, if
not identical with design speed. This minimum rule obviously applies on the opposite direction, as
shown in Figure 5.
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Figure 5. Transition areas 2 and 4 in ECOROADS field tests. Source [5].
4. Conclusions
At the time of preparing this paper, ECOROADS is preparing the final guidelines and
recommendations. However, it is possible to resume some important messages the project is
delivering:
• Joint safety operations are possible, as demonstrated by their successful completion in the five
test sites;
• Joint safety operations are useful: there was an unanimous consent about the joint operations’
added value;
• Cost effectiveness of joint safety operations. The complexity of the scheme in the previous
Figure 4 was due to organisational and monitoring purposes originated by an external subject.
When organized by the infrastructure manager, the scheme is much more simple, as shown by
the following Figure 6. Moreover, if the joint operations are organized in parallel with the
“current” RSA/RSI (thus having the road safety experts available on site), the cost of having
an additional expert is low. It is relatively easy in case of the same Infrastructure Manager
(IM), while coordination is needed in case of different ones. In both cases, there is a relevant
cost-effectiveness in terms of enhanced safety.
Figure 6. Simplified approach when operated directly by the IM.
• Involving a foreign expert does not necessarily imply more difficulties and adds value,
because he/she brings a different approach and a different point of view to the safety team. At
least the team leader and the foreign expert should be able to properly communicate.
Response from
the IM
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An excellent cooperation of the Infrastructure Managers (IMs) has been noted: sometime they
immediately reacted to the inspection reports by taking immediate countermeasures, like in the
following Figure 7.
Figure 7. Installation of guardrail in front of perpendicular wall of lay-by in
Krrabe tunnel (source: Hasani A., Albanian Roads Authority).
The following key points and issues are based on the evaluation of the five joint safety operations,
exchange of best practices and comments received during and after the 3 workshops with the major
stakeholders.
• According to the project results, certain concepts of Directive 2008/96/EC (on road
infrastructure safety management) can be applied in the scope of Directive 2004/54/EC (on
tunnels) in close cooperation of the managing departments in the two areas.
• Road sections including tunnel sections should be inspected/audited from both tunnel experts
and road safety experts.
• Transition areas between tunnels and open roads, as above defined, are of particular interest in
terms of their impact on road safety.
• An innovative update of the new safety standards following the technical developments is
welcomed. A harmonized approach regarding fire detection, fire-fighting and communication
coverage in tunnels should be addressed.
• Member States, as supervision authorities, should ensure the mutual recognition of Road
Safety Auditors and Road Safety Inspectors certified by other Member States.
• A coordinated approach to the road safety management of both tunnels and the transition areas
is recommended. This will surely facilitate better future integration of road and tunnel
infrastructure, taking also into account the costs and benefits of deploying intelligent transport
systems and services.
• Since the majority of road fatalities in the EU occur outside the TEN-T, an extension of scope
beyond the TEN-T to other roads should be considered.
• Exchange of experts and best practices should be enhanced and facilitated.
5. Final considerations
There are common elements regarding the safety management in the two areas (open roads and
tunnels) which could be tackled in an harmonized way through a coordinated communication by the
concerned open road and tunnel experts. Coordinated actions can be foreseen by adding/inserting
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harmonized legal texts in the bodies of the two Directives; any eventual insertion in one Directive
should take into adequate consideration the consequences in the other Directive and vice-versa.
The above mentioned coordinated communication between road and tunnel managers (that will in
any case maintain their specific roles and responsibilities) should not be demanded to their individual
willingness, but somehow made compulsory and periodic, in order to ensure the concrete possibility of
conducting joint safety operations.
References
[1] Pilot4Safety - Pilot project for common EU Curriculum for Road Safety experts: training and
application on Secondary Roads (http://pilot4safety.fehrl.org)
[2] Study on the effectiveness and on the improvement of the EU legislation framework on Road
Infrastructure Safety Management (Directive 2008/96/EC)
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/facts-fundings/evaluations/doc/2014-12-ex-post-evaluation-
study-road-infra-safety-mgmnt.pdf
[3] Study on the implementation and effects of Directive 2004/54/EC on minimum safety
requirements for road tunnels in the trans-European road network
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/facts-fundings/evaluations/doc/tunnel_final_report.pdf
[4] Safety Prevention Manual for secondary roads: for the international training of road safety
auditors and inspectors, complying with the EU Directive 2008/96/CE
www.aipss.it/manual-en.html
[5] www.ecoroadsproject.eu
