Opportunity to Upgrade Road & Traffic Tech

13th REAAA Conference and PIARC Council Meeting will coincide for the first time

The following are excerpts of an interview with Yoo Kyong-soo, president of the Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australasia (REAAA) and concurrently president of the Korea Road & Transportation Association Research Institute.
Question: Will you explain the theme of this year’s REAAA Conference?
Answer: The theme of the 13th REAAA Conference is “Future Roads ― Safer, Greener & Smarter.” Approximately 3,500 people including REAAA directors and notables of related international organizations are expected to attend. The participants will hold in-depth discussions on new ideas for solving problems in the areas of roads and traffic facing all nations around the world while disclosing the outcomes of research on increased road safety, ways of creating an environmentally-friendly road environment and the development of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology.
Specifically, the technical sessions, which will begin on the morning of Sept. 24, will be presided over by five people including Safery Kamal of Malaysia in the traffic planning field, Lee Dong-bin and Kim Soo-chull, researchers from the Korea Transport Institute, with a total of 23 to be announced. Twelve tutorials will be announced at a session on environmental sustainability, to be chaired by Dr. Chung Ho-il, of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (HRIHS) and Prof. Choi Jae-sung, of the University of Seoul.
Additionally, a total of 300-odd tutorials will be unveiled in nine areas. They will include 10 papers in the road policy field, 24 on structures & bridges, 38 on road construction, 30 on road safety, 16 on ITS, three on future roads, 41 on road pavement, 12 on tunnels & ground, five on disaster management and nine on project management. In one of the three special sessions, some 1,000 Korean and foreign technicians, including those who have participated in the construction of the Incheon Bridge, Korea’s longest bridge, will be present at a seminar designed to celebrate the dedication of the bridge. The second one will be a discussion on design value engineering for improving the function of structures and cost reductions. The third one will be about the “smart highway” designed to realize an intelligent transportation system.
Q: The representative events in the road and traffic field will be held in one place simultaneously. Will they have synergetic effects?
A: REAAA and PIARC are organizations established by those in the road and traffic sector in Asia and Australasia, and Europe, respectively. The two entities have never held meetings together. Therefore, these events ― the 13th REAAA Conference and the PIARC Council Meeting ― will be occasions for the two organizations to further develop road and traffic technology, transcending barriers of continents and nations. Notables in the European road and traffic community will participate in the 3rd Road & Traffic Expo (ROTREX), contributing much to improving the competitiveness of Korean companies and facilitating their entry into overseas markets.
Q: Will you tell us the significance of the 3rd ROTREX and the exhibition categories?
A: The exhibition, marking its third year, will be an event to take a look at the latest and most advanced technologies in such road and traffic areas as road management facility and advanced parking system. Fifty-four exhibitors will be present in the road construction and maintenance category of the exhibition. They will include Korea Expressway Corp., Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Halla Engineering & Construction, Korea Construction Management Corp. and Incheon Bridge Co. Forty-nine exhibitors will also be present in the road facility and road sign category while 20 others will participate in the ITS and parking system field. Nine companies will display their products and technology in the new bicycle category, while there will be nine other exhibitors in the service and other categories including the Incheon Metropolitan City government, which will have its public relations pavilion.
Q: You are not only a time-honored road expert, but also the only Korean to head an international road organization. What areas do you pick as future areas of concern?
A: I favor picking the development of new materials designed to cope with global warming, environmentally friendly engineering methods, and ITS technology, among other things. Road pavement materials’ repeated absorption and emission of solar heat gives off radiation heat. This phenomenon is not unrelated to the urban “heat island phenomenon,” which leads to the reduction of greenery and the exacerbation of air pollution. Korea and advanced countries are concentrating on the development of “heat island phenomenon” reduction engineering methods and one for the “non-cement” road or one with less asphalt and cement. Massive investments into ITS in Korea and advanced countries are forecast to lead to great developments in such areas as Hi-pass, automation of operation facilities and road & traffic information. nw

Yoo Kyong-soo, president of the Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australasia (REAAA)