National road authorities are responsible for network operations that include aspects such as safety, efficiency, sustainability, maintenance, traffic management and information. This is a complex task and involves many perspectives. This report deals mainly with experience in integrating network operations into the regular governance system at the Swedish Road Administration. Recent years have seen a change in the environment in which national road authorities are operating. Traffic volumes continue to grow at rates that cannot be accommodated via increases in capacity through construction, which worsens congestion and makes journey times both unpredictable and unreliable. Being able to increase the efficiency of the transport system becomes a key issue when it has been found that extending the capacity of the infrastructure does not solve the problem. Other methods are needed and intelligent transport systems may play an important role. The report also provides a few examples of the move towards network operations at the Swedish Road Administration using ITS as a tool. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract