Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley (right) listens as Julio Urzua (left), Regional Director, for Latin America and the Caribbean in the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), makes a point about the vehicle in the background, which is fully equipped with cameras, computers and other equipment needed to survey local roads. Accompanying them is Agustin Oseguera, of the Mexican subcontracted firm, Servicios Mexicanos de Ingeniería Civil (SEMIC), which will be collecting the road data.
Road safety evaluation soon
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:32pm
UK charity, Mexican firm join Barbados Transport Ministry to examine roads
By:
Regina Selman-Moore
A registered UK-based charity, iRAP, which is dedicated to preventing road deaths and injuries, will be working with the Ministry of Transport and Works over the next six months to evaluate the safety of Barbados’ main road network, inclusive of its highways.
Speaking at the launch of the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) for Barbados at the Ministry of Transport and Works’ Sports Club in the Pine Basin in St. Michael yesterday, Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Lashley, revealed that to date the consultants, UK-based Road Assessment Services Limited, have met with various stakeholders, including key members of the Barbados National Road Safety Council. These Council members he said, will comprise the Road Safety Steering Committee for the project and the Steering Committee’s role will be to review the road ratings, fatality estimates and reports stemming from the iRAP road safety evaluation.
The Transport and Works Minister acknowledged that it was back in April 2014, that the Government of Barbados signed a loan agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank, to provide technical assistance to undertake a road improvement project, consisting of three components. The iRAP Project falls under component three, which focuses on road safety.
“In its work, iRAP uses protocols which include one, Risk Maps, which use detailed crash data to illustrate the actual deaths and injuries on a road network; two, Star Ratings, which are simple and objective measurements of the level of safety provided by the road design. The rating is from 1 star, with the safest roads awarded 5 stars,” Lashley pointed out.
“The other component [is] Safer Road Investment Plans, which are formulated from a selection of approximately 90 prioritised road improvement options to generate affordable and economically sound infrastructure options for saving lives; [and] Performance Tracking, which enables the use of Star Ratings and Risk Maps to track road safety performance and establish policy positions” Lashley added.
A crucial first task of the iRAP exercise will be the collection of road data by the subcontracted firm Servicios Mexicanos de Ingenieria Civil (SEMIC), from Mexico and Lashley indicated that a team arrived last week to start collection of data by surveying approximately 500 kilometres of roads.
On display at the launch was a vehicle from the Ministry, which has been fully outfitted with the necessary equipment to collect the field data and Lashley stressed that the Ministry is fully committed to the implementation of the Safer Road Investment Plans, which will be an outcome of the data collection and analysis under the iRAP Project. The project serves as one of MTW’s major initiatives, for Barbados’ 50th Anniversary of Independence. (RSM)