Last week saw the completion of a second week of iRAP training in Saudi Arabia to build capacity for safe roads and paths in the revolutionary new smart city and surrounds of NEOM, under construction in the Tabuk Province of the Kingdom.

NEOM’s road infrastructure management team and project partners have received two week-long trainings in July and August in the principles of safe road design, road safety engineering practices and road safety assessments including the iRAP Star Ratings methodology.

Last week’s training focussed on Star Rating for Designs, crash risk mapping, Star Rating for Schools, CycleRAP and Road Safety Audits.

As well as in-classroom training, participants undertook field visits to a location where 30 crashes have occurred in recent years and to an elementary school to learn more about the factors which increase the risk and severity of crashes and serious injury.

NEOM is a USD$500 billion giga-project urban development initiative that launched in 2017. It will include a number of regions, including the linear ‘city of the future’ THE LINE designed for nine million residents, mountain destination Trojena and 468km coastline that takes in 41 islands.

The NEOM team will incorporate their learnings in the development of the world’s first proposed 5-star city, alongside smart city technologies and a new model for urban sustainability.

Built around people, not motor vehicles, and designed for convenience, safety and walkability, NEOM will adopt a pedestrian-first philosophy, with all amenities and services within a five-minute walk.

The city is already being built with the first destinations scheduled to come online next year. It is expected some one million people will be residents in NEOM by 2030, rising to nine million in 2045.

Read more about NEOM and the application of iRAP in Saudi Arabia here.

Images credit: Marko Sevrovic