La Nacion, Argentina’s leading newspaper has recently covered “What highways are doing to improve safety” including iRAP Accredited Supplier Autopistas Urbanas (AUSA)’s use of the iRAP methodology in safety assessments of the national network. The following is a machine translation of the article available in its online Spanish form here.

New certifications for road infrastructure

For years, Autopistas Urbanas (AUSA) has been working to make highway management more and more efficient. To this end, the company formed an alliance with the internationally recognized International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), which works to eliminate high-risk roads, based on road safety assessment and investment recommendations to improve safety.

Together, work was carried out to conduct an assessment of the network’s road infrastructure, applying the iRAP tools and methodology to improve highway safety. The road features that were taken into account include pavement surfacing, signage, lighting, safety barriers and additional attributes found in the road environment.

Based on the results provided by the model, AUSA was classified as having existing road infrastructure with a good level of safety for network users. The company continues to deliver the same investment commitment in pavements and countermeasures to improve safety.

AUSA maps

AUSA has been working for some time on a digital transformation in road infrastructure. This implies a migration of the work methodology to a collaborative world of transparent information. AUSA “Maps” is a digital platform, promoted and carried out by company collaborators, which unify the information on highways and their attributes, to monitor safety and know when and how to act in the event of an incident.

This new workspace allows tasks to be carried out collaboratively and with more efficient results, without duplication of information, with single, consolidated and easily accessible databases. This translates to efficiency in data consultation and its subsequent use for decision making, migrating to a “prevention culture in road maintenance”.

AUSA continues to add technology to improve the safety of highways every day based on this Integrated Trace Management System, which allows detailed information to be managed more efficiently. In this way, road users are ensured the best service, with system tracking that allows for the anticipation of potential failures and the delivery of preventive and predictive maintenance work, reducing repairs to a minimum and promoting a proactive work culture.

AUSA Maps offer:

• Validated, confirmed and unique information
• Centralized and accessible documentation
• Editable and collaborative reports
• Efficiency savings with open access to information
• Available to everyone

Autopistas Urbanas is in charge of more than 50 km of highways in the City of Buenos Aires and performs maintenance on all of them to ensure the quality of the trips of the 795,000 daily users.

Resurfacing plan

During 2022, AUSA made investments in the route of two important entrances to the City: Dellepiane Highway, in both directions, and Cámpora Highway. 151,400 users pass through the routes daily, and will benefit from the new roads and improved signage. The works began in May at AU Dellepiane and, in June, at Cámpora. In total this year, 173,122 m2 will be resurfaced.

The plan for 2023, is to complete the resurfacing of the AU 25 de Mayo from the connection with the Perito Moreno AU to its connection with the Buenos Aires-La Plata AU is planned. Likewise, works will be carried out in the AU Illia from the toll to the connection with Av. 9 de Julio and a sector of Av. Cantilo totalling 321,736 m2.

Commenced in 2018, the resurfacing and maintenance plan aims for improvement of the pavement. The entire network will be renewed by 2023.

See additional graphics in the original article HERE.

Photo credit: La Nacion