National Road Authorities Research Articles

Investigating how Road Development Enhances Agricultural Production in Bubandi Sub County of Bundibugyo District, Uganda

This study investigated the intertwine between road development and agricultural production in Bubandi Sub County of Bundibugyo District, Uganda. Findings revealed that the poor road network in the district is caused by steep slopes, difficulties in compensating project affected residents, government delays in providing cash, and weather variations. This poor road network equally threatens food security. This is because road development increases the agricultural productive capacity of poor households, lowers input and transportation costs, creates a market for agricultural produce, improved regional interaction, opens up new economic areas, and facilitates the flow of goods, especially agricultural produce, from rural to urban areas. Based on this finding, the study calls for the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to build all-weather loose surface roads to connect economically beneficial areas and provinces. The government should directly incentivize and oversee farmers to grow the sub county's agriculture. This is because most farmers lack agricultural incentives to inspire and boost their output. The government should build standardised highways and extend rural electrification, to encourage post-harvest handling technologies. Finally, the government should increase infrastructure and agricultural extension budgets in rural areas. Keywords: Agricultural output, Agricultural production, Feeder roads, Road development, Standard of living.

Investigating the cost of mechanized unpaved road maintenance operations in Uganda

Force Account Mechanism (FAM) is the predominant road maintenance system in Uganda’s local government setup and a similar, though slightly different approach, is used in some large private sector agriculture plantations. With the Uganda Road Fund (URF) 2021/2022 annual report and previous research citing challenges in cost management and efficiency of the FAM method of road maintenance, it becomes paramount to analyse how FAM is implemented in government-led operations, in comparison to similar private sector approaches, while proposing possible solutions to these challenges. This research offered to analyse unpaved road maintenance cost drivers alongside providing a cost model solution to improve on cost prediction of the FAM system. Gulu District Local Government (DLG) and Kakira Sugar Limited (KSL) were selected as case study areas. Two descriptive research methods were used: observations and case study approach. The selected case study areas were accessible and reachable in terms of data. Control parameters affecting unpaved mechanized road maintenance were identified as machine repair costs, tool costs, labour costs, material costs, fuel costs and machine fuel costs. Unpaved mechanized road maintenance costs at KSL and Gulu DLG were computed as a cost/km ratio of 26,442,032Ugx/km (6,958.4USD/km) and 32,674,895Ugx/km (8,598.65USD/km) respectively. The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) unpaved road maintenance costs were calculated as an average of 34,987,122.9Ugx/km (9,165USD/km) while the World Bank ROCKS database provided a comparable figure of 7,971USD/km (30,553,440.83Ugx/km). A USD to Ugx conversion rate of 3,800 was used. Two linear regression cost models with a 0.679 and 0.687 R2 value were computed, and these can be used in preliminary road maintenance cost prediction. The study recommends the need for an effective, digital road maintenance cost database system for mechanized unpaved road maintenance works, cost driver analytics and management, alongside improvement in aspects of maintenance processes at both the DLG and KSL. Further research can be conducted on equipment condition level prediction and analytics in the private sector and at the DLG.

Ontology-based BIM-AMS integration in European Highways

BIM tools enable decision-making during the lifecycle of engineering structures, such as bridges, tunnels, and roads. National Road Authorities use Asset Management Systems (AMS) to manage and monitor operational information of assets from European Highways, including access to sensor and inspection data. Interoperability between BIM and AMS systems is vital for a timely and effective decision-making process during the operational phase of these assets. The European project Connected Data for Effective Collaboration (CoDEC) designed a framework to support the connections between AMS and BIM platforms, using linked data principles. The CoDEC Data Dictionary was developed to provide standard data formats for AMS used by European NRA. This paper presents the design and development of an Engineering Structures ontology used to encode the shared conceptualization provided by the CoDEC Data Dictionary. The ontology is evaluated, validated, and demonstrated as a base for data exchange between BIM and AMS.

Risk assessment of ANAS bridge stock in the north-east of Italy

The safety and functionality of bridges are critical to the road network. In Italy, the latest "Guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges" requires a "Level 4" assessment (most complete) for bridges that may present critical problems. This paper presents a comprehensive campaign of Level 4 verification and transitability assessment of 53 bridges under the responsibility of ANAS S.p.A. (Italian National Road Authority) - Struttura Territoriale Veneto e Friuli Venezia Giulia. This campaign is one of the most extensive ever carried out in the region. For each bridge, research is carried out to determine the historical background and original design, as well as information on interventions, where available. A pre-survey is performed to frame the structural characteristics of the bridges and the geomorphological features of the areas. A drone survey is then carried out to produce a point cloud of each structure. A series of tests are then conducted on the superstructure and substructure to determine the mechanical characteristics and construction details, and on the geology to provide the relevant seismic and geotechnical parameters. The bridges are then represented graphically using BIM methodology. And FEM modelling is carried out with the traffic loads required by the guidelines and according to the vehicles considered for serviceability. As a result, a classification of all the bridges under consideration is obtained with the identification of possible weaknesses of the road network, which will eventually be followed by repair/improvement/adaptation interventions. This work contributes to the advancement of knowledge and practice in the fields of bridge inspection, assessment and management, with reference to the latest scientific, technical, technological and regulatory developments at national and international levels.

Demystifying Simple Random Sampling Technique under Public, Private Public (PPP) Projects and Value for Money (VFM) studies: Benchmarking from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)

Demystifying Simple Random Sampling Technique under Public, Private Public (PPP) Projects and Value for Money (VFM) studies: Benchmarking from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)

Modelling the Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Performance of Maximizing Asphalt Recycling on Road Pavement Surfaces in Europe

The road pavement industry, worldwide, has often shown reluctance in quickly implementing innovative practices; however, in the case of raw material consumption, a cultural change is necessary and, in this sense, sustainability assessment could play a major role. Along these lines, this research study aims to provide evidence to all the involved stakeholders (material producers, pavement contractors, and road authorities) of how life cycle-based techniques can be crucial in evaluating whether the adoption of asphalt mixtures with high contents of reclaimed asphalt (RA) for wearing courses is actually a sustainable practice for major European roads. An evaluation framework composed of a life cycle assessment, to calculate the carbon footprint of both pavement materials and pavement activities, and a life cycle cost assessment, performed to determine the overall economic burden of the related road pavement surface courses and maintenance strategies over a sixty-year analysis period, is presented and applied to selected case studies. These were developed together with three major European national road authorities and include scenarios involving the construction of road surfaces with asphalt mixtures containing up to 90% RA. Results have shown that whenever high-content RA mixes do not under-perform against conventional mixtures, up to 50% CO2eq savings can be registered and up to 60% economic cost reductions can be reported. The durability of road pavement layers remains a key parameter for any road pavement sustainability assessment exercises; therefore, in order to adapt the obtained results to other contexts, researchers should always consider conducting a sensitivity analysis of the reference service life and/or road authorities should somehow request road pavement durability as a pre-requisite within procurement practices.

Semantic knowledge models for decision making in asset management: IM‐SAFE Knowledge Base

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of physical ageing, asset management organizations not only struggle with scattered object‐related data across incompatible software and models, but also dispersed, often missing, insights from domain experts. There is a large volume of data already available particularly at National Road Authorities i.e. object characteristics, inspection and measurement results, usage records. Yet this data is distributed, has complex and varying structures, it takes cumbersome effort to find and obtain for a particular asset management decision. Semantic knowledge models aim to capture domain information and represent it via class definitions, their attributes, relationships and in instances. Such models are used to create knowledge bases, where different technologies are utilized. In the IM‐SAFE project, a knowledge base is created based on a Semantic Wiki Platform. It captures asset information concerning their structural analysis and state on 99 civil structures across Europe. In this paper, a step‐by‐step methodology is provided to build the knowledge base. The paper involves knowledge acquisition, data collection, knowledge modelling, populating datasets and quality assurance steps. It will conclude future implications to make the base expandable and widely used for asset management.

Circular economy in road construction and maintenance

Implementation of the circular economy has the potential to significantly contribute to decarbonization targets. The CERCOM project will deliver an innovative risk-based framework to facilitate the adoption of Circular Economy (CE) and Resource Efficiency (RE) principles in procurement by National Road Authorities (NRAs) across Europe. This paper presents the interpretation of CE and RE within the highways sector to determine how NRAs define and assess their own performance against these topics. This informs data requirements for developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for circularity while assessing quantity, quality, and availability of information required. The CERCOM Risk-Based Analysis framework is presented, which utilizes a weighted sum incorporating risk, cost and various KPIs developed to rank various construction and maintenance activities in terms of circularity and risk.

SAFEPATH: Safely increasing capacity on highways

The aim of the SAFE caPAciTy Highways (SAFEPATH) project, funded by the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR), is to provide National Road Authorities (NRAs) with information and methodologies to support the selection of measures to safely increase highway capacity.It is critical to understand the performance of a measure before implementation. SAFEPATH used a systems analysis approach to examine the problem of increasing highway capacity, which involved the development of models known as means-ends, objective tree, and causal relations. A systematic approach involving literature reviews, interviews, and workshops was followed.The result is a systems diagram for highway capacity and road safety to link different means for increasing highway capacity to measurable criteria. This will help NRAs to make informed decisions and provides the foundation of a good practice guide.

A Framework for Life Cycle Management of Road Pavements in Europe

Sustainability Assessment (SA) is a standardized practice that is rapidly taking up also in the building sector; however, the transport infrastructure sector is still questioning the best way forward to implement it as a regular practice. This work tries to fill this gap by providing a summary of the PavementLCM package, a comprehensive instrument developed for European National Road Authorities (NRAs). The aim of the package is engineering sustainability for road pavement management by including SA, Life Cycle Management (LCM) and circular economy practices while complying with the most recent European standards for the “Sustainability Assessment of Construction Works” (EN 15643, EN 15978 and EN 15804). As a result, the research delivers specific Guidelines to implement LCM as a current practice, as well as suggestions concerning circular economy and durability assessment.

Financial Management Methods and The Efficacy of Advance Financing: a case of the Public Infrastructure in Uganda

In Uganda, advance financing is a common method for financing public infrastructure. While advance financing is thought to considerably alter the way governments in the developing countries improve infrastructure through offering more financing services that might make a real difference to infrastructural developments, there is a continual uproar about the inefficiencies in Uganda National Roads Authority, principally around the advance funded projects. This study focused on assessing the appropriateness of advance financing arrangements on the efficacy of advance financing of this road. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from a total of 204 respondents from Uganda National Roads Authority using self-administered questionnaires. The authors focused on financial stability, professionalism, level of government funding and efficacy of advance financing of the roads sector. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26. Ordinal logistic regressions were run to establish the relationships between the study variables. The findings of the study revealed that good financial management methods were significant positive predictors of efficacy of advance financing of public infrastructure. Also, when the Contractor did their part and accepted status quo other than highlighting objections was found to be a momentous predictor of efficacy of advance financing for infrastructure project. Under government funding, scenarios where government had truthfully rewarded contractors with a sense of achievement positively influenced the efficacy of advance financing of Public infrastructure. Generally, both financial stability and professionalism positively influenced efficacy. However, the study findings revealed that when the government meets the agreed target with contractors before full implementation of the project, there is a negative influence on efficacy of the project. This therefore calls for sanction on staff working on these projects which is contrary to construction code on public road construction projects since they are designed for a specific purpose using taxpayer’s money through government who are accountable to confirm that the funded projects follow their predetermined targets. Keywords: Financial Management methods, Financial stability, professionalism, Government funding, Efficacy of advance financing, Public-private partnerships, Public infrastructure DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/13-1-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2023

Concepts for the Integration of Data from Asset Management Systems into BIM

Even though BIM is still rarely used in operation over the lifetime of infrastructure assets, it promises significant benefits for national road authorities with regard to condition updating and the effects of maintenance measures required in contemporary asset management. This paper introduces new approaches for a task-related data exchange between BIM and Infrastructure Management Systems. Concepts to manage semantic information and to visualize geometric-related information are presented. For selected use cases, country-specific information containers were defined to support the general process map which differ fundamentally according to the ontologies, links and documents that are used and stored. The proposed approach was implemented in a web application and tested for three predefined use cases within the framework of a case study.

Western And Chinese Development Engagements In Uganda’s Roads Sector: An Implicit Division of Labour

Abstract How has the process of institution and governance building in Africa, a domain traditionally subject to western development interventions, been changed by Chinese-led development? Taking Uganda’s roads sector, and particularly its main implementing agency the Ugandan National Roads Authority as a case study, I argue that traditional donors’ influence on sectorial institution building has not been replaced or dislodged by China’s growing presence. This presence primarily took the form of Chinese construction companies operating as profit-driven contractors interested mainly in quick project turnaround rather than in systematically shaping sectorial governance in the host country. Moreover, not only did traditional donors’ development financing remain dominant vis-à-vis China, but the ways in which their interventions were designed, exercised, and monitored in the post-conditionality regime characteristically differed from their Chinese counterparts, ensuring their embedded and enduring role in the reforming of sectorial state institutions. As such, a tacit division of labour took shape between Chinese and western engagements in Uganda’s roads sector: China focused on ‘hard’ physical road construction whilst traditional donors on the ‘soft’ aspects of sectorial governance and policy. The availability of both forms of development engagements with their distinctive foci enables issue-specific agency for Uganda to develop its roads sector, and yet they together appear to create favourable conditions for the Ugandan leadership’s increasing authoritarianism.

The independent parallel bid evaluation strategy. Lessons from Uganda National Roads Authority

The independent parallel bid evaluation strategy. Lessons from Uganda National Roads Authority

The independent parallel bid evaluation strategy: lessons from Uganda National Roads Authority

We adopted a qualitative and cross-sectional design to examine lessons from the independent parallel bid evaluation (IPBE) strategy from Uganda National Roads Authority. The IPBE strategy leads to improved bidder confidence, improves objective assessment, timely high-quality decisions, in addition to organisational learning and procurement cost reduction. The study found the strategy relevant for reintroduction and rolling out to other entities, after making provisions for its operationalisation in the legislative and regulatory framework. Since the study only considered lessons from the strategy, future research should aim at understanding the relationships between the lessons learnt using various methods. Academia has an opportunity to study further this strategy that may make a breakthrough of the inherent unethical bid evaluation challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Procurement professionals should make use of the strategy to learn and improve the bid evaluation outcomes that has a large impact of onward procurement processes.

Contractor commitment and the delivery of road infrastructure projects in Uganda: A practitioner perspective

ABSTRACT This study examined the relationship between commitment (specifically the affective, continuance and normative aspects of commitment) and the delivery of road infrastructure in Uganda. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 266 that was purposively selected from road project engineers related to the Uganda National Roads Authority, the Ministry of Works and Transport, and the Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that all three indicators of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative) significantly affect the delivery of road infrastructure projects, though in varying degrees. The researchers recommend the implementation of mechanisms to enhance the three forms of commitment in the delivery of road infrastructure projects in Uganda. Notwithstanding other factors, the paper makes a contribution to the area of road construction in the developing country context by extending previous qualitative findings which focused solely on a case-based approach. This will enable policymakers and practitioners to gain an appreciation of the key dimensions of contractor commitment that may influence the delivery of road infrastructure projects in developing countries.

Social and economic value of ferry services connecting the national road network in Uganda

This is the first study that seeks to demonstrate the social and economic value of the ferries that link the Ugandan national roads network. Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is responsible for maintaining, operating and developing the national roads network, which comprises 20 544 km of roads, 519 bridges and nine ferries. Apart from bridging the national road network disconnected by water bodies, the ferries in particular have a significant economic and social impact on remote communities, providing safer, shorter connections to social services and also boosting business by reducing the transportation time and cost of goods. Preliminary data analysis estimated the initial capital cost of the nine ferries managed by UNRA at US$38.16 million with a current asset value of US$16.36 million. They transport about 3.2 million passengers annually as well as about 1.06 million tonnes of cargo. Using the contingent valuation method, the social value of these ferries is estimated at US$10.95 million and they generate direct employment worth 126 full-time equivalents (FTEs) annually (1 FTE being 40 h/week). In addition to this, ferries serve remote communities and half of their passengers are women and youth, which are groups identified in the sustainable development goals as vulnerable but necessary for the economic growth of developing countries.

A GIS-based screening method to identify climate change-related threats on road networks: A case study from Sweden

Extreme weather-related events are likely to increase in both frequency and intensity if current emission rates continue. Particularly vulnerable to the potential effects of climate change is the transportation sector, which fully relies on the uninterrupted accessibility of the road network. With the Swedish Government adopting a National Adaptation Strategy in 2018, creating a coordinated cross-disciplinary strategy underpinned by international frameworks, new ambition levels regarding climate change adaptation efforts have been established. Identifying particularly vulnerable parts of the road network is an essential step for National Road Authorities (NRAs) in early planning stages to prioritize adaptation efforts around high-risk areas to safeguard the road network. By utilizing both publicly and commercially available climate-related data, as well as applying and assessing new terrain analysis techniques, a large-scale vulnerability assessment is carried out for Halland County in southwestern Sweden by assessing three climate-adjusted extreme weather events (a 100-year pluvial flood event, a 100-year fluvial flood event, and an extreme coastal storm surge event) projected to exacerbate in the region. The study demonstrates how a GIS-based screening method, specifically adapted for NRAs or similar stakeholders, may provide quick overviews of potentially at-risk areas along road networks through a simple vulnerability index assigned to individual road segments. Further studies are recommended to compare modeled results to recorded flood events if available and incorporate updated climate change trajectories from upcoming IPCC reports.

A Qualitative Analysis of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project Contracts in the Roads Sector. A Contextual Elucidation of Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA)

Public Private Partnership Projects continue to gain momentum across the world. Governments in developing countries now find PPP projects as an alternative to conventional financing and providing public infrastructure. Guided by the principal agency theory, this study examines different types of PPP Project contracts in the roads sector with specific focus on the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). Contracting out of projects in the roads sector has led to increased costs of road construction in Uganda. The main objectives of this study are to examine the relevance of the principal-agency theory to the adoption of PPP project contracts by UNRA and establish the types of PPP Project contracts suitable for adoption by UNRA. Data was collected through literature survey and interviews. Study findings revealed that Principal-Agency theory is relevant to adoption of PPP project contracts and that UNRA intends to use mainly management PPP contract. It is concluded that principal-agent relationship is very crucial if the execution of PPP Project contracts is to be a success and that there is a very high chance that UNRA is planning to also adopt the use of Build, Own and Transfer (BOT) PPP Project contract in the roads sector. The study recommends that UNRA should ensure a cordial relationship with private parties and not rely solely on management PPP contracts. The organisation should explore other PPP project contracts such as Private Finance Initiative, Leasing, Design Build, Build Operate and Transfer, and then Design Build and Finance. The choice of contracts should always be based on affordability and value for money.

European National Road Authorities and Circular Economy: An Insight into Their Approaches

The pavement engineering industry, having realized the significance of the impacts that it imposes on the environment through the production, construction and management of its products and assets, has been driven towards a more sustainable and circular way of operating. This has partly been through asphalt recycling, which is an area that many road authorities have prioritized. However, not all the National Road Authorities (NRAs) and/or sector stakeholders seem to be adequately familiar with the Circular Economy (CE) concept. This paper attempts to assist the transition of NRAs to a more circular way of doing business, by analyzing the current situation of CE within national/regional authorities and NRAs. To do so, a questionnaire was sent to different NRAs and an online search was conducted to identify the ways that NRAs communicate their CE practices. Findings indicate that, although the majority of the NRAs are familiar with CE as a concept, not many actions have been taken so far towards its holistic implementation. Finally, there is a significant lack of CE expertise and communication within these bodies.