Efficient and widely available transport infrastructure is one of the most important prerequisites for sustainable economic development to meet the demand for mobility. In this context, being able to manage traffic growth forecasts is of particular importance. In Germany, current forecasts indicate a 40% increase in rail and road transport in the country. However, about 60% of bridges (as measured by bridge area) on the national German highway system that are suitable for freight transport were built before 1985. In other transport sectors as well, aging infrastructure is one of the key challenges for the availability and the resilience of European transport infrastructure. Many bridges in the national German highway system are already at their load-bearing limit. Furthermore, required maintenance measures have not been adequately carried out in the past due to limited budgets, leading to overall bridge deterioration. Further challenges for owners and operators of transport infrastructure result from the effects of climate change, associated climate extremes, natural catastrophes, and possible criminal and terrorist threats. To ensure that future infrastructure challenges can be successfully addressed, strategies and solutions must be developed and implemented in a timely manner to enable holistic and sustainable life-cycle management. The concepts of Resilience Management as well as Resilience Engineering are essential building blocks in this process. Resilience is the ability to survive in the face of a complex, uncertain, and ever-changing future. It is a way of thinking about both short-term cycles and long-term trends. Using this concept, owners and operators can reduce the risk of disruption in the face of shocks and stresses. Resilience requires cyclical, proactive, and holistic risk management practices.
The field of safety in road tunnels has always been an important issue for operators, owners and the responsible authorities. After the tunnel accidents in 1999 the subject gained however in importance. On European level the Directive 2004/54 EC on "Minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans European Road network" has been published. This guideline has to be implemented into national law by all Member States. According to the guideline all Member States of the European Community shall develop a methodology for risk analyses to be applied in certain cases. For Germany, a standardized methodology for a probabilistic quantitative risk assessment has been worked out.
Improving the security of critical road infrastructure is a major task for owners and operators of tunnels and bridges in the European TEN-T Network (Trans-European Networks of Transport) (European Parliament and Council 1996). Up to now, there has not been a systematic procedure for identifying and assessing critical infrastructure objects and selecting appropriate protection measures. The EC FP7 project SeRoN for the first time presents an innovative methodology in order to support road owners and operators in handling this complex task. This paper describes the methodology and project results in detail by giving an introduction into its practical application.
Risk-based approach for the protection of land transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall
(2016)
The aim of the research project "Risk based approach for the protection of transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall RAINEX" is the development of a practical methodology for the identification and assessment of both vulnerable as well as critical transport infrastructures towards extreme rainfall events consequences. The developed methodology is based on expert knowledge and includes qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses regarding the assessment of the vulnerability and criticality of relevant transport infrastructures. The process chain from the spatial rainfall to the concentrated runoff in the river channel was shown to assess the local hazard resulting in the local risk. The main result of the project is a practice-oriented and applicable methodology and a comprehensive and well-developed security handbook.