IRF Members’ News

PE "Roads of Serbia” continues to pave new kilometres of modern infrastructure – a symbol of progress, connectivity, and development.

The newest section of the E763 motorway from Preljina to Požega represents another important step towards faster, safer, and more efficient traffic, contributing to better connectivity between different regions of Serbia, as well as the integration of transport flows with neighbouring countries.

The section from Preljina to Požega, 30.96 km long, connects to the already built Miloš Veliki motorway, which is operating in full profile from Surčin to Preljina with associated facilities, interchanges, tunnels and bridges. A well-known fact about this section is that it passes through very difficult geographical terrain, where a total of three tunnels were built: Trbušani, Laz and Munjino Brdo. All of the tunnels are designed with two separate tunnel tubes, each for one traffic direction.

The lengths of the tunnel tubes of the Trbušani tunnel are approximately 300 m. The lengths of the tunnel tubes of the Laz tunnel are approximately 2,700 m and 2,900 m (the length of the left tube along the axis is 2,842.57 m, and the length of the right tube is 2,662.33 m). The axial distance of the tunnel tubes is from a minimum of 35 m to a maximum of 55 m.

A third of the tunnels' length has been designed with connecting corridors for vehicles to pass from one tunnel tube to another, with emergency niches, as well as 9 pedestrian transverse connecting corridors at prescribed distances, which enable safe evacuation in incident situations. In the middle part of this transverse corridor for vehicle passage, a space has been reserved for a power substation.
Space for the accommodation of various electrical and telecommunications installations has been provided under pedestrian paths on both sides of the carriageway. The lengths of the left and right tunnel tubes of the Munjino Brdo tunnel are on average 2,750 m, the left tube 2,755.75 m, while the right tube is slightly shorter, with a length of 2,740.14 m. The Munjino Brdo tunnel is designed with two tunnel tubes, one for each direction of traffic, i.e. one-way traffic with two lanes takes place through each tunnel tube. The width of the carriageway in the tunnel is 7.70 m. The axle spacing of the tunnel tubes is about 30 m. The height of the traffic profile is H=4.75 m.

Official pedestrian paths are designed on both sides of the carriageway 1.19 m–1.24 m wide. Below them is space for accommodating various electrical and telecommunication installations.
Transverse pedestrian passages for crossing from one tube to the other in the event of an emergency in the tunnel are designed to be able to support even emergency vehicles and are located at a distance of 220–280 m.
Two extensions have been designed for each tunnel tube to remove broken down vehicles – emergency niches.
The vehicle transverse passages for passing from one tube to the other are part of the Munjino Brdo tunnel, designed at a distance of 1,000 to 1,006 m in the longitudinal direction. The Laz and Munjino Brdo tunnels are currently the longest road tunnels in Serbia.

All tunnels on the state roads of I A category have built-in smart lighting systems, variable traffic signals and video surveillance, while those longer than 500 metres have all the necessary security systems for reporting and detecting fires, an air quality control system, ventilation and smoke extraction in tunnels, a hydrant network for extinguishing fires, a public address system for transmitting messages to users, SOS telephones, and FE devices.

Supervision and management of the facilities is carried out 24/7 from the operational control centres according to clearly defined emergency response procedures.
The entire project includes 35 bridges with a total length of 5,196 m, 4 overpasses with a total length of 592 m (3 bridges on local roads after descending from graded intersections total length 180 m), as well as 4 overpasses within graded intersections (total length 1,075 m), as follows:

• 13 bridges are over 100 m long, and the longest bridge is 478 m,
• 6 bridges are 25–100 m long,
• 16 single-span bridges are 10–25 m long.

The bridge over the West Morava is unique compared to the others, because it spans the river with a span of 80 m, and its total length is 330 m.
1,912,000 m³ of embankment and three complete traffic loops were built, which will allow the existing bypass around Čačak to be relieved.
In the first part of the section from the existing toll station Preljina to Pakovraće, which is 14.3 km long, the relocation of electrical, telecommunications, water and gas installations was carried out in a total of 73 places.

PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE:

The E-763 Belgrade–South Adriatic motorway serves as a vital link between Serbia and Montenegro, connecting Belgrade with the South Adriatic region.
On a broader scale, it will improve connectivity between Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Italy.
In Požega, a traffic junction is planned to be built, where a section of the motorway branches off to Kotroman and the border crossing with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Preljina–Požega section of the E-763 motorway project is located in the southern part of the E-763 motorway in Serbia.
It is a motorway with a total of four lanes and a design speed of up to 120 km/h. The project has been recognised as the most challenging section to construct on the entire E-763 motorway.

NTRO, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads(TMR) and Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) have teamed up to win a prestigious International Road Federation award at the annual IRF Awards in Athens.

MRWA, TMR and NTRO’s joint project The impact of bushfire on infrastructure and a framework to incorporate bushfire resilience in road design won the IRF’s Emergency and Disaster Response Management Award. 

NTRO Sustainability and Materials Performance national leader and IRF Board Member Dr Clarissa Han accepted the award at the presentation in Athens on the entire team’s behalf. 

This framework was developed through NTRO’s collaborative research programs with MRWA (the Western Australian Road Research and Innovation Program – WARRIP) and TMR (the National Asset Centre of Excellence –NACOE).

Anaheim, CA, July 01, 2025 – Econolite, a trusted leader in intelligent traffic management solutions and part of Umovity, announced today that it has received the prestigious International Road Federation (IRF) Award (IRF2025). The recently introduced Autoscope^® OptiVu HD video detection solution was recognized for its technological innovation in the IRF Award’s Traffic Management and IT category. Mogens Abel-Bache, CTO of Umovity, received the award during the International Symposium “Navigating the Future of Traffic Management” held in Athens, Greece, on June 30.

“We are thrilled and extremely honored to receive the IRF2025 award,” said Christian U. Haas, CEO of Umovity. “Being acknowledged by the IRF for our newly introduced Autoscope OptiVu sensor solution validates our commitment to providing innovations that empower cities to deliver more sustainable, safer, and accessible mobility. I also want to congratulate all the IRF2025 Award winners; it’s a privilege to be part of such an important global program.”

The IRF Awards exemplify the commitment toward fostering innovation, sustainability, and safety in road development. It distinguishes outstanding projects, initiatives, and tools that have achieved remarkable outcomes in the transportation and mobility sectors. The IRF Awards celebrate the relentless dedication and ingenuity of the industry, whose contributions are driving meaningful progress in mobility worldwide.

The Traffic Management and ITS award category celebrates innovations in traffic management and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that enhance mobility, efficiency, and safety on the roadways. It recognizes technologies, strategies, and practices that optimize traffic flow, reduce congestion, and improve the overall performance of transportation systems and quality of service for all roadway users.

About Econolite – part of Umovity

Econolite is the North American market leader in intelligent traffic management solutions with over 92 years of experience. Econolite has provided more than 160,000 detection sensors deployed at over 60,000 intersections. Its leading traffic management software has been installed by more than 500 agencies across North America. Econolite prides itself on being the leading One-Stop-Shop provider of traffic management solutions, including Cabinets, Controllers, Software, Sensors, and Professional Services. With nearly 800 employees primarily in North America, Econolite drives innovation in traffic management and safety solutions, including connected and automated vehicles research and development. In June 2022, Bridgepoint acquired a majority stake in Econolite, and together with PTV Group, a dynamic partnership was formed. Since 2023, Econolite and PTV Group are united under the brand Umovity.

For more information, visit www.econolite.com.

TRL Software has successfully rolled out a new digital pavement asset management system for Malta Transport called TM Roads, to enhance roadworks coordination and public transparency across the island’s transport network. The new TM Roads system is a customised version of TRL Software’s cloud-based Asset Management software, iROADS, configured specifically for Malta Transport. It is a commercially available off-the-shelf platform designed to manage various infrastructure assets.

The new platform, TM Roads, marks a significant shift from manual road permitting processes to a fully digital, centralised system designed to streamline communication between government bodies, utilities, contractors and the public. The initiative is part of Malta’s broader “Reshaping Our Mobility” strategy, aimed at delivering smarter, more responsive transport infrastructure.

TRL’s flagship asset management software iROADS enables authorities to plan, monitor, and optimise road maintenance and construction activities in real-time through a single intelligent interface using multiple data sources. TM Roads is the first module in the platform to be implemented in Malta. This modular approach is perfect for local authorities managing a phased integration of multiple solutions into a single cloud-based Software as a Service platform that gives them huge efficiency savings.

“We’re proud to support the Government of Malta with our iROADS platform, helping to create a more coordinated, transparent and citizen-centric road network,” said Subu Kamal, Head of Product for TRL Software. “Our technology is designed to remove inefficiencies and empower infrastructure managers with the data they need to make faster, better decisions. Malta is now part of a growing group of forward-thinking nations transforming the way they manage roads.”

At the launch event, Malta’s Transport Minister Dr Chris Bonett described TM Roads as “an important step in a wider chain of solutions we are working towards,” reinforcing the government’s commitment to delivering tangible results for its citizens.

Kurt Farrugia, CEO of Transport Malta, added that the platform will improve communication with the public while reducing inconvenience to residents by providing timely, accurate information about upcoming works and permits.

This deployment extends TRL Software’s international footprint, joining similar iROADS implementations in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. It demonstrates how digital transformation is reshaping public sector infrastructure, with data and technology at the heart of smarter road networks.A version of iROADS, known as P-AMS, is used by National Highways to manage England’s strategic road network. In addition to supporting national infrastructure, iROADS is the ideal solution for local authorities seeking to manage their local road networks more effectively. iROADS is a suite of modules to support network operation.

The South African Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, will open the Southern Africa Transport Conference (SATC) on Monday, 7 July 2025 at the CSIR in Pretoria, South Africa.

As proud supporters of SATC, at the IRF we are looking forward to engaging discussions and innovative insights into the future of transport in Southern Africa under the conference theme, “Mobility Solutions to Southern Africa's Challenges”.

This year’s plenary speakers

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For more information contact:

Jacqui Oosthuyzen

info@satc.org.za

mobile: +27 83 324 9622

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety – joined global leaders in Leipzig, Germany, for the 2025 Summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF), the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and mobility experts. Throughout the Summit, YOURS brought forward bold and urgent youth perspectives to ensure road safety remains a global priority.

Calling for stronger global vehicle safety standards

As part of our advocacy efforts, YOURS joined over 30 organisations in signing a joint letter to Dr. Juan Carlos Muñoz, President of the 2025 ITF Summit and Chile’s Minister of Transport. The letter urged ministers to protect and strengthen global vehicle safety regulations, not weaken them.

The key asks included:

1. Encouraging Trade Ministers to avoid negotiating vehicle safety standards in trade deals

2. Supporting global collaboration through the UN World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations

3. Ensuring that recent progress in safety standards is reinforced and not reversed

This action, in collaboration with partners like Global NCAP, reinforced our shared belief: safer vehicles save lives, especially young lives, and must be prioritised globally.

Bringing the funding conversation to life

YOURS also took part in the UN Road Safety Fund Media Event, which brought together senior officials and advocates to spotlight the urgent need for increased and sustained financing for road safety.

The session featured:

• Jean Todt, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety
• Tatiana Molcean, UNECE Executive Secretary
• Ministers from Chile, Ghana, and Slovenia
• Pierre-Martin Huet, Sustainability & Impact Director, Michelin
• Moderation by Nneka Henry, Head of the UN Road Safety Fund

The event showcased how global partnerships and funding are already delivering results in countries such as Chile and Ghana, and why investing in proven road safety measures must remain a global priority.

Influencing the next Decade of Sustainable Transport

YOURS was invited to contribute to the closed consultation on the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026–2035), alongside key global actors including the Ministry of Transport of Chile, ITF, UN DESA, ADB, UNECE, ECLAC, Walk21, iRAP, TUMI, and GIZ.

They brought forward one clear message:
Young people must be recognised not just as users, but as co-designers of transport systems.

YOURS inputs focused on three core areas:

• Road safety at the centre:
  Integrate Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach across all mobility plans, and ensure infrastructure investments are safe by design.
• Transport as a health and climate issue:
  Highlight road safety co-benefits in national climate goals and promote youth-led solutions like cycling and walking infrastructure.
• Meaningful youth participation and accountability:
  Institutionalise youth roles in planning, monitoring and reporting mechanisms, and track youth-related targets with disaggregated data and clear indicators.

They also called for the creation of a Youth Movement for the Decade, co-led with civil society, to keep youth at the heart of sustainable transport action.

The message YOURS is carrying forward:

• Safe streets and vehicles must be a non-negotiable part of every transport agenda
• Global safety standards should be protected  and strengthened for future generations
• Youth are not just beneficiaries they are key stakeholders, actively shaping the future of transport

From policy to planning to financing, YOURS continues to push for a transport future where road safety and youth leadership go hand in hand.

By Rajat Mishra
Director & Chief Executive Officer, EFKON STRABAG India

A quiet revolution is underway in India’s classrooms—one that is empowering children to become champions of road safety and catalysts of meaningful social change.

Roads form the lifeblood of global commerce and connectivity, yet they are also among the most perilous spaces we navigate. Every year, road crashes claim over 1.3 million lives and injure tens of millions across the world—many suffering lifelong consequences. Unlike air or rail disasters that trigger media outrage and institutional reforms, road accidents are all too often dismissed as routine. This normalization of tragedy is not just dangerous—it is deeply unjust.

India faces one of the gravest road safety crises globally. In FY 2024, the country recorded over 168,000 fatalities and more than 400,000 serious injuries due to road accidents. That equates to one death every three minutes and one serious injury every minute—a staggering toll on human life, productivity, and wellbeing. Behind each number lies a shattered family, a community in grief, and an avoidable loss.

To counter this epidemic, global frameworks emphasize the “4 Es” of road safety: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Emergency Response. While infrastructure and enforcement are vital, Education—especially when directed at the young—emerges as a particularly transformative tool.

At EFKON India, a subsidiary of the Austrian infrastructure leader STRABAG SE, we have embraced this truth. Over the past five years, we have implemented a nationwide school engagement initiative, reaching over 500,000 students across India. Through storytelling, art, drama, and interactive learning, children are taught not only the rules of the road but the value of empathy, responsibility, and civic awareness.

The results have been extraordinary.

Children don’t just learn—they lead. They return home and remind their parents to fasten seatbelts, wear helmets, obey traffic signals, and avoid using mobile phones while driving. This peer-to-parent influence is powerful, and in many cases, more persuasive than conventional enforcement. When children speak, their families listen.

To scientifically evaluate the initiative’s impact, we partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee for a year-long research study across multiple schools. The findings confirmed our belief: children exposed to our programs showed significantly higher awareness of road safety and actively influenced the behaviour of adults in their households. Children, the data showed, were not just passive learners—they had become influencers and enforcers.

This aligns with our broader mission at EFKON and STRABAG: to work towards a world of zero road fatalities and minimal vehicular emissions. Road safety is not merely a technical issue—it is a cultural one. And culture, we believe, can be reshaped most effectively by empowering its youngest citizens.

Across schoolyards and classrooms, this change is already in motion. Children are questioning unsafe practices, advocating for responsible behaviour, and inspiring change in homes and communities. With the right support and engagement, they can steer our society toward a safer, more conscious future.

Because in their hands lies not just the steering wheel—but the direction of tomorrow.

In April 2025, we completed the second phase of our regional Safe School Zones project, supported by the FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub, with expansive results that have seen safer routes to school for more than half a million children.

This includes speed limit reductions at more than 700 schools; an estimated investment of more than $2.3 million by local authorities; national and municipal policy change in two countries, and commitments to explore policy change from decision makers in others.

How we got here

Since the launch of the project in 2021, we have worked consistently with our local NGO partners across seven countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, and Tajikistan) to advocate for 30km/h speed limits around school zones.

In 2023, during the last UN Global Road Safety Week, we published a Situation Report celebrating the successes of the first two years of the project while also highlighting a complex and challenging picture across the seven countries. The report emphasised a range of challenges around legislation, stakeholder knowledge and awareness, data, infrastructure, enforcement, and community engagement that still needed to be addressed. Indeed, the average speed limit around schools in our region is 40km/h, and even this is frequently exceeded due to low levels of enforcement, high tolerance limits for speeding, and a lack of speed management infrastructure.

Through mentored grants, capacity building and knowledge sharing, we have worked with our partners to raise awareness on a range of interrelated issues. This has included campaigning for better enforcement, safer streets, cleaner air, an improved environment for walking and cycling, and improved infrastructure around schools. Across the region, our partners have been working with traffic police to identify high-risk schools in their cities and use global tools such as Star Ratings for Schools and the GDCI Designing Streets for Kids Guide to assess and advocate for improvements, including lower speeds.

Exponential success: 2023-2025

Over the past two years, our partners have collectively organised 18 high level roundtable meetings and attended over 100 meetings with decision makers, advocating for 30km/h policy change. Government officials in Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova have all made commitments to supporting 30km/h school zone policies. In Georgia and Moldova, 30km/h school zones have been included in their national road safety plans, and both countries are in the process of rolling out new school zone road safety standards at municipal levels. In Kyrgyzstan, a proposal has been submitted to the government to change road safety legislation to include 30km/h school zones as an official directive.

These achievements have been testament to the good reputation, expertise and knowledge of our partners in each country. They have worked directly with over 500 police inspectors, engineers, school leaders, and local authority employees to build their capacity and awareness on implementing and enforcing 30km/h school zone policies. In particular, our partners have worked directly with the Traffic Police in each country to facilitate more than 50 extensive safety assessments around schools (many using SR4S) and jointly installed infrastructure upgrades at 37 schools as part of their wider advocacy efforts and to demonstrate the impact of best practice interventions.

Community support and readiness is also essential to delivering successful policy change. Public engagement and media awareness have therefore formed a core component of our partners’ projects. In total, our partners have organised more than 70 community events and participated in 104 media appearances over the last two years to promote the importance of Safe School Zones and 30km/h speed limits.

Next steps

The project will continue through 2025 and into early 2026. This third phase aims to build on the successes of the past four years and capitalise on the unique opportunities that this year presents to drive forward policy and implementation of 30km/h school zones across the seven countries. We are working with each partner to develop an individual action plan for their country targeting key areas for intervention. Each action plan is unique addressing the specific context of the country but all include interventions aimed at having the greatest impact, following up on commitments from the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in February 2025.

This week, we is joining the global road safety community to mark the 8th UN Global Road Safety Week by calling on governments and road safety leaders to make walking and cycling safe. Across the EASST region, reducing speed limits to 30km/h is an essential first step for many countries in terms of a shift away from car dominance towards prioritising the safety of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. We hope the momentum we have created through this project will serve as an important starting point on which countries can build and grow their public spaces so that they are safe and healthy for everyone.

ORIS Materials Intelligence, a digital startup pioneering sustainable design for roads and other linear infrastructure, unveiled in its 2024 Impact Report key findings, the power of AI and geospatial insights to drive decarbonisation, circularity, and cost-efficiency at scale in road infrastructure. This report underscores how digital intelligence can be a transformative lever for infrastructure planning, unlocking climate and financial benefits without compromising performance.

Finding #1: AI and Data Science to Mitigate Road Construction GHG Emissions

ORIS identified levers to avoid over 3 million tonnes of CO₂ eq. in 2024 through 16 road projects

Through the 16 consulting projects achieved in 2024, the startup used its innovative AI-powered digital platform to identify for its clients levers and solutions that would avoid 3.1 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions in road projects—equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly one million cars.

At a time when the road sector accounts for more than 12% of global CO₂ emissions (source: WRI), ORIS’s AI and data-driven approach is demonstrating that digitisation can cut carbon at scale—without increasing project costs.

"Construction materials account for 85% of road construction carbon emissions and impact 60% of its costs. Our platform puts that knowledge in the hands of decision-makers—early, accurately, and at scale," said Nicolas Miravalls, ORIS Materials Intelligence CEO and co-founder. “With ORIS, sustainability is not an afterthought—it’s built in from day one.”

Finding #2: Recycled Materials: AI to Fast-Track Circularity

ORIS supported clients to identify how to reuse existing materials in their projects and preserve up to 4.4 million tonnes in primary resources in 2024

This figure illustrates the tangible impact of embracing circular economy principles in infrastructure development. Using its platform, ORIS supports clients in identifying the reuse of excavation materials from one part of the project to another. The ORIS platform also references over 44,000 material suppliers, including 7% of sites with recycled materials.

Finding #3: Data Shows that Sustainable Infrastructure Is not More Expensive

Key finding: ORIS helped identity savings amounting to $24 million for its clients in 2024

Contrary to the belief that sustainability increases costs, ORIS’s data-driven models identified combined budget savings of $24 million for clients in 2024. These were achieved by selecting smarter material combinations and favouring more durable solutions, reducing the need for early maintenance and repair. The evidence confirms that environmental and financial performance can go hand in hand.

Finding #4: A New Approach to Road Climate Resilience for Communities

More than 18,000 km of roads assessed for climate resilience, thanks to an innovative approach combining climate data, road vulnerability and socio-economic impact.

In 2024, ORIS assessed 18,553 km of roads for climate resilience, providing data-driven insights to build infrastructure that can withstand climate challenges with its innovative approach. In a significant case study in Central Asia, 7,765 km of road networks were assessed, identifying that 25% of these roads were highly vulnerable to climate hazards, impacting 30% of the local population. This AI-powered climate resilience assessment highlights how advanced methodologies can quantify the vulnerability of extensive infrastructure networks to climate change and understand the potential impact on communities, informing crucial adaptation measures such as material upgrades and improved drainage.

“We’re proving that digital tools can unlock massive carbon savings—while improving cost-efficiency and resilience,” added Renaud de Montaignac, ORIS Materials Intelligence COO and co-founder. “This is how the sector can truly build for the future.”

ORIS Material Intelligence 2024 Key Impact Figures: