ARRB and IRSM helping deliver safer roads in Sri Lanka

The Government of Sri Lanka has shown its commitment towards delivering a safer road network through iRAP analysis and staff capacity building.

With funding from the World Bank, Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority (RDA) has been working throughout 2022 toward understanding road safety risks on critical sections of their road network of A and B-class highways.

The RDA has achieved a significant milestone on its journey to improving the safety of its highways. Three of its engineers successfully completed the training and assessment required to attain iRAP accreditation in the Coding, Analysis, and Reporting modules working with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), the Indian Road Survey and Management (IRSM), and local partner Consulting Engineers and Architects (CEA), with CEA Engineers also gaining iRAP accreditation.

“Having CEA engineers also accredited means there is additional local support to apply iRAP to the rest of the road network and to new road projects”, said ARRB Project Lead, David McTiernan.

Experts from ARRB and IRSM delivered in-person training to RDA engineers over two weeks in November 2022 hosted at the RDA offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to train them to complete the assessments for accreditation.

“A pilot project started actively in March 2022 and it is a complete package for Sri Lanka, involving coding of 1,079 km of their existing highway network, analysis to identify risk scores, reporting of Star Rating results, and development of a Safer Roads Investment Plan that was appropriate, feasible, and practical for Sri Lanka to deliver,” Mr McTiernan said.

An important part of the delivery included ARRB and CEA experts touring the coded network to identify SRIP treatments that best suited the local highway environments.

The team is designing the SRIP treatments so RDA can implement the SRIP and improve high-risk (1 and 2-Star) sections to achieve a 3-Star or better outcome. The designs are scheduled to be completed in April 2023.

The RDA invested in the training and accreditation of three engineers and expects to take the initial iRAP Star Rating analysis and expand it to the rest of the Highway network in Sri Lanka, to eventually provide over 12,000 km of Star Rated roads.

“RDA is a pioneer organisation in Sri Lanka for the construction and maintenance of roads while ensuring the safety of road users, hence we are planning to establish a separate unit for iRAP in the RDA,” said the Director General of RDA, Eng. L.V.S.Weerakoon.

The RDA and its engineers are to be congratulated for taking this initiative to make the roads safe for their communities.

ARRB’s Dr Joseph Affum steps the Sri Lanka Road Development Authority engineers through iRAP coding and analysis and reporting processed in preparation for gaining iRAP accreditation

Sri Lanka’s highway network services all road user groups and often in a constrained road environment, creating challenges for balancing safety risks

Sri Lanka’s rural highway network can present a range of road hazards to drivers and riders.  This iRAP project is looking to recommend infrastructure treatments to provide 3 Stars or better outcomes for all road users