FRED Engineering has announced the first implementation of iRAP in Burundi to improve road safety in partnership with the Burundi Transport Resilience Project (PRT), funded by the World Bank. The initiative focuses on conducting a road safety audit and iRAP assessment for a key 29.2 km road corridor in and around Bujumbura, including a major national road and two urban boulevards, using the Star Rating for Designs and Star Rating for Schools tools.

The project, funded by a US$120 million grant from the World Bank, aims to provide safe, efficient, and climate-resilient road connectivity along a key corridor linking Burundi to Tanzania, and strengthen institutional capacity to sustainably plan, develop, and preserve climate-resilient road assets. It will be implemented with the support of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Equipment and Housing, and Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism.

The iRAP Accredited FRED Engineering team will conduct a road safety audit and iRAP assessment of the detailed design of two major sections:

• The 25 km stretch of the RN 3 national road between Bujumbura and Gitaza.
• The 4.2 km section covering the Mwambutsa and Ndadaye boulevards in Bujumbura.

The iRAP Star Rating for Design (SR4D) tool will be used to identify potential hazards and recommend improvements to make the roads safer for all users, especially vulnerable ones like pedestrians and cyclists.

A significant part of the mission is to assess road safety at schools along the project roads using the iRAP Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) tool. The goal is to recommend safety measures to achieve a rating of at least three stars or higher for these school zones.

Additionally, the FRED team will collect five years of historical data on crashes, deaths, and injuries from police and hospital records to better understand the current safety landscape. The project is expected to be completed in approximately four months, with the mission scheduled to begin this month.

By improving the design of these roads, we aim to contribute to a significant reduction in fatal crashes, with a target of decreasing them from 50 to 15 per year on the RN-3 section.

According to iRAP’s Safety Insights Explorer, achieving UN Target 4 for greater than 75% of travel on 3-star or better roads for all road users in Burundi by 2030 stands to save an estimated 683 lives each year and prevent 423,746 deaths and serious injuries over the 20-year life of road treatments with an economic benefit of USD$51.1 million – $4 for every $1 spent.

Lead image and article source: FRED Engineering