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This is a list of the highest paved roads in Europe. It includes roads that are at least 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long and whose culminating point is at least 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) above sea level. This height approximately corresponds to that of the highest settlements in Europe and to the tree line in several mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, where most of the highest roads are located.
Some of the listed roads are closed to motorized vehicles, although they are normally all accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. These mountain roads are visited by drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and hikers for their scenery and often feature in the routes of European bicycle races such as the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de Suisse, the Tour of Austria, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Due to snow conditions, most of the high roads are closed between (late) autumn and late spring/early summer.
Below the list of highest roads is a list of the highest motorways (controlled-access highways) in Europe. It includes motorways whose culminating point is over 1,000 metres (3,281 feet) above sea level.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) recently collected and analyzed more than 10 years of historical data on crashes and found that alcohol, speeding, and failure to use seatbelts represented a disproportionate share of safety problems. In fact, speeding accounts for 52 percent of all road fatalities in Rhode Island, about 20 percent higher than the national average.
Halfway around the world, Poland faces a similar challenge. In 2008, Poland saw 67,534 roadway casualties, including 5,437 deaths and 62,097 injuries. Crash rates are twice as high in Poland as in Western European countries. As one approach to addressing the problem, the Polish Road and Bridge Research Institute is looking to its peers for ways that could help engineers take appropriate steps to improve safety. Innovative new technology was among several practices and policies that a contingent of U.S. transportation officials learned about firsthand during an April 2009 visit to Central Europe.
The U.S. officials traveled to Poland and the Czech Republic to participate in meetings, roundtable discussions, and site visits. They made the trip under the auspices of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of International Programs (OIP), which supports the exchange of road transportation technologies and facilitates partnering (or "twinning") relationships between States and foreign governments. One of OIP's goals is to facilitate information and technology exchange among U.S. and global partners to improve the highway transportation systems at home and abroad.
"Working with the Central European Technology Exchange program . . . has provided opportunities for the CETE partners to not only share cutting-edge technology with each other, but to also be involved in innovative research that helps to improve the safety of roads in our Nation," says Ian Saunders, director of OIP.
The United States has longstanding and mature transportation relationships with many European countries. Broadening and deepening these partnerships remains a key focus for FHWA. The Central European highway agencies offer U.S. practitioners opportunities for learning, networking, and benefiting from successful programs in transportation management in partner countries.
During the April 4-11, 2009, peer exchange, the U.S. officials traveled to Warsaw, Poland, for meetings; toured laboratories there and in Tišnov, Czech Republic; and met with Czech Ministry of Transport officials in Prague. Topics of discussion included developing programs and procedures to strengthen international partnerships and linkages, implementing safety management tools that support national planning and programming decisions, using workforce development programs to support engineering careers, linking countries and cities with high-speed rail, and improving automobile recycling practices to support sustainability goals.
The second objective was to meet with Czech and Polish officials to discuss potential joint venture partnerships. The representatives discussed high-speed rail development in the central European Union (EU), road safety research projects in the Czech Republic, and implementation of workforce development programs.
A new government came into office in 2007 and announced intentions to enact business-friendly reforms and accelerate privatization. The government's plan is to develop a US$10.1 billion program of public-private partnerships to build an "interstate-style" highway system across Poland. Government officials also announced plans for a high-speed rail system. In addition, with road crashes becoming a leading cause of death in Poland, program planners need further analysis of the causes of the crashes and cost-effectiveness of various remedial measures.
Complicating the issue, the EU allows heavier trucks than are permitted in Poland. According to Polish transportation officials, if main roads are to be strengthened to accommodate trucks up to EU weight limits, Poland's investment budget will need to double allocations for road rehabilitation. Poland's transportation policy notes that the country must form international linkages and partnerships to reach its goals of safety, sustainable development, economic growth, and ecological and public health.
The CETE meeting provided an opportunity for the U.S. team to begin forging new partnerships with the Central European countries. In each city visited, the hosts revealed that training for public employees is a common concern. A younger emerging workforce will need basic transportation skill sets as they replace an aging public works workforce. During and after the meetings, attendees provided insights into their own practices and the factors that have contributed most to their success. For example, road safety audits commonly used in the United States now are becoming a valuable tool in the Central European countries. Another example is Rhode Island's winter maintenance and snow plow training.
"The LTAP/TTAP [Local Technical Assistance Program/Tribal Technical Assistance Program] has had wonderful exchanges with international agencies and their professional employees for many years," says Mike Burk, director of FHWA's Technology Partnership Programs. "There is so much to learn from each other related to how our road systems are planned, designed, constructed, and maintained."
The Czech Republic's LTAP activities are similar to those in the United States, but its customers are different and more diverse, such as including a research element. CETE, which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, has a much broader customer base with both contractors and educators included. The European LTAP model has its roots in the transportation research centers in each country. Each center undertakes technology transfer and works with educational improvement programs and training.
Facilitated by FHWA, RIDOT and the Rhode Island T2 Center already had worked with the Central European T2 partners on several projects. One was the SnowFlake Road Safety Project, jointly funded by FHWA and the Czech Republic, organized by the Czech CDV (Czech acronym for what translates to Transport Research Center) in Brno and studying both Central European countries and U.S. States (the Czech Republic and Rhode Island in particular). That study drew on the European Union's SUNflower project, in which 15 countries tried such approaches as raising the legal driving age to 21 and imposing penalties for failure to wear seatbelts, which resulted in greater road safety. From a public policy perspective, the SnowFlake data could be used to develop more effective safety programs and tools.
High-speed rail (HSR) systems now operate in several countries, including France, Great Britain, and Japan. The Europeans define high speed as 125 miles per hour, mi/h (201 kilometers per hour, km/h) or more, but speeds over 79 mi/h (127 km/h) meet the definition in the United States. Poland and the Czech Republic propose building extensive new networks by 2015. In 2008 the Polish government's high-speed rail committee approved a draft policy document and environmental impact study for development of HSR services. In the United States, several State and local governments, as well as private sector groups, have undertaken feasibility studies to assess the potential for high-speed passenger rail technology.
In the United States, Amtrak's Northeast corridor main line (linking Boston, MA; Providence, RI; New York, NY; Washington, DC; and intermediate cities) is the Nation's most highly developed high-speed rail line. The project had its roots in the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 and was shaped by railroad restructuring legislation in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak undertook a major overhaul and improvement of the system. Called the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, the overhaul included safety upgrades, modernization of the signaling system, and new control centers in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The project enabled more trains to run faster and closer together, and set the stage for later high-speed operation.
During the Central European T2 meeting, participants discussed the potential for using an asphalt base for high-speed railroads in the United States and Central Europe. Rather than construct the track so that it "floats" within a ballast bed, crews place the track on top of an asphalt slab that can provide ride comfort, low maintenance costs, and a long life.
The Czech Republic has a long history of providing courses on railroad engineering. In the United States, where there has been limited construction of new rail capacity in recent decades, the subject is emerging as a new skill set for engineering students. RIDOT and the Rhode Island T2 Center are interested in developing a civil engineering course on high-speed rail systems. At the Central European T2 meeting, their representatives discussed the possibility of jointly developing a seminar with officials from VSB-Technical University.
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