Increasing the Resilience of European Transport Infrastructure

Extreme weather conditions, climate change, damages to the infrastructure (caused by natural and man-made hazards) and traffic impediments negatively impact the reliability of mobility solutions. Risk analysis, adaptation measures and strategies that enable minimizing the impact of both natural and man-made extreme events on seamless transport operation, protect the users of the transport network in case of extreme conditions, as well as provide optimal information to operators and users of the transport infrastructure, need to be developed. Road transport is vulnerable to extreme weather events, while bridges and tunnels are among the most critical land transport structures. A large number of bridges and tunnels have been in operation for more than 50 years and there are widespread signs of deterioration. They need inspection, vulnerability assessment and, when needed, appropriate interventions. Inspection, though, in inaccessible areas, or structures with high volumes of traffic, is expensive, time-consuming, and potentially dangerous. At the same time, structural/vulnerability assessment is also a lengthy process which is especially painful after extreme events. The overall goal of RESIST (RESilient transport InfraSTructure to extreme events) a RIA H2020 project funded by the EU commission with grant number 769,066 is to increase the resilience of seamless transport operation to natural and man-made extreme events, protect the users of the European transport infrastructure and provide optimal information to the operators and users of the transport infrastructure. In the context of RESIST, robotics for visual and contact inspection of structures, structural vulnerability assessment, infrastructure risk management as well as mobility continuity applications considering stress levels of the drivers are being developed towards a high level of resilience of the transport infrastructure.