Host : Mr. Pierre Villa

The Congress closed on Thursday, February 11, with a meal accompanied by presentations and technical conclusions summarizing the key information from these three days of discussions.

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I am happy to be among you today, in large numbers from all over the world, for the XIII Winter Road Congress.

As First Delegate of Canada, I am very honoured to represent Canada in this Closing Session to end this Congress, which was full of events, meetings, activities and information sharing of all kinds with countries who deal with winter issues.

I’ve had the pleasure to meet with many of you and I am more and more convinced that there is a lot to do and to share to make all countries to deal with harsh winter conditions a safer place to live in.

During this week I witnessed the work of many men and women that came up with amazing ideas and concepts to make our roads safer and with technologies that are more and more ecological.

The conference was a great opportunity for countries with cold weather climates to share various strategies and technologies on winter road operations. We saw new and innovative ways of optimizing the winter maintenance dollar - ensuring enough de-icing materials for all weather conditions but minimize the cost of stocking these materials.

I have also noticed that in Canada and other countries, transportation authorities have recognized the importance and the challenges that exist in providing winter services in order to maintain and improve the mobility and the accessibility for their citizens.

Many countries are allocating increasing amounts of resources such as equipments and manpower each year for winter operations and maintenance. They have also put measures and practices in place to ensure mobility is maintained and that their economy keeps moving as well.

Another important and interesting factor that delegates examined is climate change, and especially, the impacts of these climate changes on the road network. Based on current observations and analyses, the climate changes that will surely result in greater variability in road conditions are increasingly important. Also in this context, the development and implementation of technologies to assess road conditions in real time is increasingly important and relevant.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo, here in Canada, conducted research on risk factors such as the effects of darkness, the drivers' experience, and the various obstacles that can be found along roads, in order to determine the effects and the consequences of these factors on road safety.

Countless other researches were done in other countries in order to address the specific issues they are facing. This Congress was a great opportunity to share the results of this research and analyses, and will help the various road authorities across the world in their decision-making.

Before leaving, I would also like to remind you and share with you my strong belief in the development of our Association. In my opinion, the national committees represent the largest and most active resource of the Association. The development potential of the national committees is huge and I believe that it is through these national committees that the World Road Association can thrive. The national committees are the conduit between the Secretariat's drive and the longevity of the Association. All the experts and specialists in the road field are what keep us moving forward. I believe it is essential to not only set up new national committees in PIARC member countries but to also support and stimulate the committees currently in place.

Lastly, we end this Congress, which has been a huge success, and in a few hours, the entire world will be focusing on another part of Canada, I'm of course talking about Vancouver and the Olympics!

My fellow colleagues and friends, please remember to think of me when the Canadian hockey team plays a game, I will be glued to the screen hoping for another win on Canadian soil.

Thank you to everyone, thank you to the Canadian Organizing Committee who knew how to perfectly coordinate Canada's participation in the Congress and all the members of Canada's Organizing Committee and particularly, Mr. Henri Madjar from SNC Lavalin, Mr. Brian Gaston from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, and Pierre Chalifour and Réjean Day from Transport Canada.

Thank you so much and congratulations to the Québec Organizing Committee. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Québec, thank you!

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The World Road Association's XXIII International Winter Road Congress is coming to an end. It is with great pleasure and pride that the City of Québec has welcomed you since Monday to discuss the major issues related to sustainable winter service for road users.

You had the opportunity to discuss, during various sessions, a wide range of topics such as winter service management and possible problems and solutions for winter driving, weather and road condition forecasts, innovative techniques for snow removal and climate change impacts.

You also had the opportunity to take advantage of the technical visits by observing, for example, the City of Québec's snow melting facility or by visiting the international exhibition that included dozens of exhibitors.

I also want to mention that we held the first ever Mayors' Session, an initiative of the Mayor of Québec, Mr. Régis Labeaume, and three elected municipal officials participated. Of course, the Mayor of the City of Québec, Ms. Ferrer, the Mayor of Andorra-la-Vella, and Mr. Michael Applebaum, Mayor of the Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame de Grâce Borough in Montreal. They presented their approaches for managing winter.

On behalf of the Mayor of the City of Québec and its citizens, I want to thank the World Road Association for choosing the City of Québec to hold this major Congress. I also want to congratulate the Association and the ministère des Transports du Québec (Québec Ministry of Transport) for the quality of the organization of this event.

I hope that you made the most of your stay to visit our city, which we are as proud of, both in winter and in summer. I invite you to come back to visit at the height of summer. You will see that Québec is just as beautiful whether it is covered in green or white. You will also see that our Summer Festival is just as entertaining as our Carnival!

The City of Québec was very proud to host your association during the last couple of days. I’m sure you’ve had an opportunity to share not only best practices, but to discuss innovative techniques and climate change.

We were hoping to give you a live demonstration of our snow-removal operations – but unfortunately, I think Mother Nature decided to visit the States instead of us – so, you’ll have a firsthand, view of what we deal on a regular basis: major quantities of snow during our winter season.

I want to wish you a good end to the Congress. Some of you we will surely see again at the XIV Congress being held in Andorra-la-Vella in 2014. Have a good day and much success! Thank you.

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First, the Minister wants to apologize for her absence, an unplanned meeting with many fellow ministers has prevented her from being here with us today. On her behalf, I want to first thank each and every one of you for your active participation in these discussions held over the last 4 days.

We have now come to the end of this great meeting under the theme of: "Sustainable Winter Service for Road Users." This theme takes on its full meeting when we consider the nature and diversity of the climate conditions that we must face.

This is a new reality that requires various approaches, a range of methods to continue to provide our citizens with effective and safe transportation infrastructure and road networks, both in summer and in winter.

Throughout this Congress, you have demonstrated that efficiency and innovation must remain at the centre of civic action. Open-mindedness and desire to improve are the cornerstones. This is exactly what made this meeting, which brought together specialists and practitioners like yourselves from all over the world, so successful.

In particular, I would like to highlight the quality of your presentations, especially with regard to the planning and management of winter road service as well as the social and environmental aspects of winter mobility.

And, let's not forget all these techniques and new technologies that help us in our daily actions, and lastly, the strategies that we have just put forward to confront climate change.

We will need to prepare a synthesis of all these very interesting discussions. This will allow us to better meet our citizens' needs in terms of winter mobility. I am very happy about the level of the discussions and teachings that we can use but also the overall organization of this Congress.

In this regard, I want to once again thank the World Road Association who accepted to hold this Congress in the City of Québec and I also want to congratulate the Organizing Committee of this event and particularly
Mr. Alain Labonté's entire team. You accomplished an enormous task that deserves our full appreciation.

In closing, I would like to provide the Principality of Andorra, the host city of the next Winter Road Congress in 2014, with our full cooperation and warmest regards. We will be there to support you in this endeavour.

Thank you to everyone. You are always welcome in the City and province of Québec!

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Dear winter colleagues, I hope you have had those interesting days, as I hoped and said in the opening ceremony. In this congress, we have had the opportunity to learn about all that has been achieved since the last congress in Torino 2006. We have seen how expanding the focus from winter maintenance to winter service reaps efficiencies through integration and information sharing. Likewise, we have discovered the challenges and opportunities that are introduced when we extend the time horizon to consider how today’s activities will impact the next generation.

This sustainable perspective, considering long-term social, economic and environmental consequences, ensures that our efforts to meet our needs today will not impede others from meeting their needs in the future. And new is also climate change: the influence of roads and adaptation of road administration.

And as you cannot divide yourself and listen to all the sessions, we will give you a short summary of the presentation in each topic. We will start of course with topic one, and I will introduce procurement director Jukka Karjalainen, head of Road Management Unit, Finnish Transport Agency, Finland, and Jukka will talk about the topic “Winter service planning and management and implementation”.

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Thank you, Ms. Öberg. Ladies and gentlemen, good performance in winter maintenance is important because it keeps road users on move. During the topic one, there were interesting oral presentations and also posters describing new approaches of maintenance planning, management and implementation.

A cooperative study made by Sweden and USA documented practices of customer orientation from several countries. This study showed that understanding customer needs will contribute to more adaptable services. In Finland, a new winter maintenance policy, where the needs of customers are taken into account, has recently been created. Also a maintenance planning process was systemized to standardize the planning between road regions, but also to meet road users’ needs as well as possible by ensuring interaction with road users during planning process. Presentations from Japan, Germany and USA showed that collaboration with different actors should be enforced.

The results of European Cost Action 353, winter service strategies for increased European road safety were reporting. From USA we heard a practical example of good cooperation, interstate 80 winter operation exploitation. The Federal Highway Administration of USA has a road weather management program that seeks to improve the level of service of roads and reduce vehicle crashes through a combination of road weather research, scientific innovations and education programs. In Sweden and also in Japan, models to assess socio-economic effects and optimize winter service are created.

Different views of outsourcing and contracting were also highlighted on presentations from Canada, Norway, Latvia and Estonia. In Québec, a special working committee was established to improve the situation on maintenance, and this resulted in development of new risk sharing arrangement with contractors. We also heard that Norway has a special project to develop expertise and raise the status of maintenance work. It was reported also from Norway that open competition has decreased research and development projects, and they had found it necessary to incorporate these research and development projects in maintenance contracts to maintain the required levels of research. Also, there were interesting presentations of national strategies, policies, operations and developing organizations from Span, Slovakia and Switzerland.

As a final conclusion, one can say taking road users and other customers into consideration and reinforcing collaboration between actors is coming more and more important. Countries have different situations and solutions, so each country should determine its own optimum approach for winter service. But one can and one should, however, learn from others. The expertise and status of winter service should actively be developed in the future. More training and research and development are needed to ensure the winter service expertise in future. Information of the importance of winter service should also be increased to the public. And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the speakers, my fellow chairmen, interpreters and after this excellent lunch, also the chef and all the participants. Thank you very much.

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Thank you, Mr. Karjalainen. And now we will continue with topic two “Safety and mobility in winter, social, environmental and economic aspects” and here we will have director, doctor, engineer Horst Hanke, German Road Administration, Germany.

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Thank you Ms. Öberg. Ladies and gentlemen, main task of winter maintenance is to enhance traffic safety and traffic flow under winter road conditions. To optimize winter maintenance, it is necessary to analyse the influence of winter road conditions and of winter maintenance on traffic flow and traffic safety, and to look how driver information can optimize winter maintenance and traffic flow. This is content of topic two.

And we had, in topic two, 16 presentations from 8 countries in 4 sessions. You see here the names of the sessions. And we had very much interesting presentations. In the first session, we heard about accidental traffic flow analysis. We heard from Finland that the accident risk on snowy and icy roads is up to four or five times higher than on bare roads, and these find themselves equal in other countries. In Canada it was examined the development of the accident risks over 20 years, and they found that the accident risks normally are going down, but in wintertime they are constant over the years, and increase in heavy snowfall. And in Canada, there were calculated accident risks on different road conditions, and there was established a model for calculating the effects of winter maintenance method and standards to quantify and compare this. The research in Norway showed that side friction is a good indicator for driving safety.

In the second topic session, we learned about optimized driver information for better road safety, and we saw very good, very interesting driver information systems from Canada and from Japan. And we learned that they can, we can do very much to enhance traffic safety by driver information systems. And so both pre-trip information, before starting, going on the road, and in-car information by audio guidance and graphic information. And in Canada they have done very much in research of the quality management of the driver information. This is very important for the reliance of the drivers.

Under the topic session “Special traffic programs and solutions in wintertime”, we heard some special problems. First we learned that bus drivers have many problems in wintertime, especially because the winter tires for buses are not so good than for the passenger cars. Then we learned about bicycle lanes in wintertime, and there are high risk for bicycle drivers in wintertime, and we must do much better winter maintenance to enhance traffic safety for them. In Canada, there was major research about effectiveness of speed moderation under winter conditions, and the first results show that they are working also in wintertime. Another problem with behaviour of draining asphalt in wintertime, experience has shown from Switzerland that there is a need of great awareness and special salting. In Germany, strong, heavy traffic on motorways is a problem in wintertime, especially on sections with steep grades. They now make experience with block dispatching for heavy, good vehicles under extreme weather conditions.

The last sub-topic dealt about sustainable winter maintenance in road tunnels. We did it together with the Road Tunnel Commission of PIARC, and there were three presentations from Canada, US and Sweden dealing with special programs with snow and ice and road tunnels, and their solutions. And there was a great discussion about common problems of tunnel maintenance and winter maintenance. Snow and ice can cause several problems in tunnels, especially at the portals and at very low temperatures. So it’s necessary to give tunnels in wintertime a special observation and a good maintenance treatment.

At the end, we can say as conclusions from topic two, under winter road conditions, accident risks become very high, especially also for special traffic like buses and cyclists. Winter maintenance has a great safety effect, and we must do a very good winter maintenance. Optimized driver information can support the drivers and can help, and also traffic regulations like block dispatching can help in extreme situations. Road tunnels have special problems in wintertime that need to be solved. And at last I want to thank all speakers, all presenters, all interpreters, my co-chairs and members of my group, all did very good work. Thank you very much.

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Thank you, Dr. Hanke. Now we have come to the third topic: Winter service information system. And this will be present by Martin Hobbs, head of Winter Service Strategy, Highway Agency, United Kingdom.

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Thank you Ms. Öberg. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start by thanking those that helped me review, plan and manage the sessions on this topic. A lot of hard work has gone into that. In all we heard 24 papers from 10 countries spread over 6 sessions. There were also 27 papers from 11 countries planned for the poster session. Topic three was about winter service information systems, and it covered information tools not only for the day-to-day operations, but also for the manager for making long-term and more strategic decisions. It also covered tools for the interface between meteorology and road management. In addition, there were aspects on data management and data processing, such as maintenance decision support systems. The papers were split into four themes. On monitoring and observing weather and road conditions, we heard papers from France, Canada, Québec, Canada and Japan. And on forecasting weather and road conditions, we heard paper from France, Canada, Great Britain and Austria. On decision support systems, from United States, France, Latvia, Canada, Québec, Canada, Germany and Japan presented some very interesting topics, and I’ll come to the conclusion in a moment. And the same for vehicle-based technologies, we heard papers from Japan, USA, Iceland, Québec, Canada and Germany.

So what can we conclude from these sessions? Firstly, there have been exciting new approaches to the way road condition and current weather conditions are obtained and provided to road users, such as with the use of in-car technologies. For example, there was a method of determining wetness of a road surface using a camera and lighting device, the development a complex model to determine the classification of road surface conditions based on continuous friction measurement, and how in real time, the amount of snow on the road surface could be determined using a combination of web cameras in vehicles and roadside lasers, and finally, how data can be drawn from reasonably standard systems on general cars networks, such as traction control, ABS and the automatic wiper systems.

Vehicle-based technology is developing fast, and there is much scope to make improvements in winter service; as one speaker said, the possibilities are endless. Secondly, there is significant innovation in the accuracy and approach for the forecasting of not only weather, but also road conditions. I’d like to highlight the numerical models dedicated to forecasting are getting more and more refined. They are now providing information at a root level with a forecast down to one kilometre. They are also now combining several sources of meteorological data to obtain more relevance and more realistic forecasts. This in turn will provide better information to road users, allowing them to make better travel choices in terms of when and if they travel, and how they should equip themselves.

And finally, not only the day-to-day operations, but also the long-term planning of winter service will improve with many developments and wider scope of decision support systems. There were many covered, and I’ll just cover a few examples here. How the systems provide a more complete picture of what is happening on the network with the provision of faster, more consistent and reliable information. Through a graphical interface, this could even include live pictures from winter maintenance vehicles, the development of various decision support system tools across new areas, such as applying speed restrictions for areas affected by frost heave, and how developing countries and those in transition can benefit from the basics of such systems.

So overall, the progress and the development of winter service information systems will bring great benefits, improved winter service providing road users with safer roads and roads that are open for much more of the time. They will provide more accurate, reliable and timely information to enable road users to make the appropriate travel choice, and the improved long-term planning will lead to greater efficiency and very importantly, the drive towards more sustainable service.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the speakers, my fellow reviewers, chairs, co-chairs and the interpreters for their support, and to those attending the sessions. I hope you found them useful. I hope also that you’ve enjoyed Québec, the food and the hospitality as much as I have. Thank you.

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Thank you very much, Mr. Hobbs. We’ll continue with topic four, Snow and ice control technique and technologies, and here we will hear assistant director Rick Nelson, Nevada Department of Transportation, United States.

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Thank you, Ms. Öberg. First of all, I want to thank all the topic four members who worked tirelessly with me reviewing the abstracts and papers and organizing the sessions. This session concerned itself with snow and ice control techniques and technologies. There were a total of 7 sessions for this topic area to present some 28 papers. Presenters from over 13 countries were kind enough to share their works with us during these last 3 days of the congress. Topic area four was divided into 6 session themes of common interest: innovative techniques and technologies, the environment and snow control, techniques for the application of de-icing chemicals, measurement of pavement surface condition, analysis of the spread rate of chemical de-icers, and the prevention or dealing with snow and ice.

It’s very difficult to summarize so many well-done papers that generated so much interest during this congress. Canada, Québec, Italy, Japan and Sweden presented very interesting papers on the use of existing equipment and new equipment that’s being developed, particularly to improve results during snow and ice control operations. New materials and their delivery methods are being developed in Belgium and Switzerland to deter snow formation and improve grip. Working to understand the winter surface friction, the pavement condition, is such a crucial element in designing snow and ice control strategies and equipment to deal with snow and ice, and very interesting papers were presented by our colleagues from Québec, Japan and Sweden. And in addition to developing new equipment and understanding the way the equipment works and our environment, optimizing the spreading of this equipment so only the materials required to do the job are used and they’re placed in the most appropriate location to perform the task. Improvements in the application of de-icing materials were discussed by Denmark, France and Sweden. These new deployment techniques are again most important and a continuation of the previous topic.

One of the most interesting concepts to think about is the fact that if we can prevent the snow from accumulating on the roadway, that’s snow that we don’t have to worry about removing, and papers presented from Japan and the US did a very good job of explaining how those snow fences, both living and man-made, are designed and placed and the extraordinary results that they demonstrate. And lastly, from Québec, France and the US, very interesting discussions were made regarding best practices, and it’s through this exchange of information and demonstration of what works for them that we can greatly advance this topic.

So in conclusion, it can be seen from the papers that were presented in this topic, that there has been a vast amount of work accomplished since the last congress. Improvements in equipment and techniques and materials are moving towards a more sustainable practice, and I think this is a very critical conclusion that can be made. People are continuing to strive for advancements in new ways to consider things, new ways to deploy things and new ways to understand the environment. Technological advances are contributing in wonderful ways to new methods and new materials to combat snow and ice, and continued advances and understanding the behaviour of the pavement surface condition during the winter is such a key element, and it’s a very difficult problem when you try to take these results from the laboratory into the real world, but it’s such an important element in understanding what’s happening in the environment so you can design better strategies to deal with the winter. So with that, again, I would like to thank all of the presenters, our moderators, our co-chairs for contributing to the success of the presentations in this topic area.

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Thank you, Mr. Nelson. And now we continue to topic five, Winter service and sustainable transportation. And here we will hear Dr. Fumihiro Hara from the Regional Policy Research Laboratory, Hokkaido Development Engineering Centre in Japan.

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Thank you, Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen. I will summarize studies presented on topic five, winter service and sustainable transportation. For topic five, 19 papers have been presented forecasting on realization of sustainable winter road maintenance by minimizing our diverse efforts on environment and by reducing energy consumption. Out of 19, 15 papers from 10 countries were presented in the oral session, and four from 4 countries were on the poster session. I will introduce the studies presented in the oral and poster session by each of the 4 sub-topics.

First, I will summarize the studies presented on the topic of salt and road right-of-way. Researchers from Japan and the USA presented research and analysis results of the extent of de-icing salt on the road environment, such as underground water, surface water and vegetations. A presentation from France forecasting on the effects of de-icing salt on the mobility of metals in the soil. Research result of Japan shows de-icing salt affects negatively limited roadside areas. So accumulation of such research achievement in various countries will be able to more clearly identify de-icing salts extent and its relationship with climatic and environmental condition.

Next topic is alternatives to salt and salt quality. Finnish and Japanese groups reported the result of assessment of de-icing salt alternatives, including acetic acid agents. Physically this study result on automated acetic acid agents dispersion systems were presented by Japan. A record from Slovenia was given on the effects of the de-icing materials’ quality and the amount of salt being spread on the road friction correction. A presentation from Finland at the poster session pointed out that adverse efforts of potassium formate, a de-icing salt alternative, on the corrosion of road facilities should be more carefully accessed to use it as de-icing chemical.

The third topic is salt, snow, sustainable option. A trial to identify the amount of CO2 generated by production and transportation of de-icing salt, including rock salt or sea salt, was reported from France. It shows that the occasional relationship between salt production site and users as well as the way of salt transportation would affect the amount of CO2 produced by such activities. Japanese researchers presented on the results of experimental studies on road heating system using renewable energies, including those from hot springs or ground heat. These studies will be obviously useful to reduce CO2 emissions further require a cost benefit assessment and applicability examinations.

The last topic is history of maintenances of various countries. The history of sustainable winter road maintenance service in Latvia, Slovakia and Italy were presented each. The studies include the effort to reduce the amount of de-icing salt through salt management and salt spreading, as well as the development of new equipments such as snowploughs that are useful to achieve that aim. Special contribution to preserve roadside natural environment were also introduced as part of the history. There will be valuable example to be referred by other countries or areas.

Lastly, I will summarize other studies in the poster session. Japan and Canada introduced an effort to harmonize roadside landscape improvement, including the greenery and winter road maintenance services. Some special proposal on the winter road maintenance, such include roadside tree planting and driving tourism in the summertime were made. The introduction of a salt controlling system to ensure economical salt consumption was reported from Austria. An interesting effort in Canada, the manual construction and maintenance of ice road was introduced. Such a trial maybe lead to the reduction of sprayed road salt and of the CO2 emissions, which will be useful for the natural environment preservation. A comprehensive summary of studies presented on topic five. I will skip my explanation… the conclusion, because of my presentation has already included this summary. To conclude my presentation, I would like to thank the cooperation of the paper authors and participants to topic session five to realize meaningful session. I also appreciate topic five members for their effort and contribution to complete topic five responsibility towards a successful congress. Thank you very much.

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Thank you very much, Dr. Hara. Now we are come to the sixth topic, the last one, Winter service and climate change impacts, and here we have senior advisor Jan Ölander, Swedish Road Administration, Sweden.

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Thank you, Mrs Öberg. Good afternoon, everybody. We have this new topic called “Winter service and climate change impacts”, and this topic is very new for this committee and also for these kind of congresses. But we managed to have at least 7 papers in the end. We reviewed 7 papers, and we had 4 papers at the poster session. We have 5 papers from 4 countries at the technical sessions.

We learned from Sweden and USA how to deal with climate change. They have done some strategies and analysis on vulnerabilities that addresses the impact of climate change. We have looked at the road network, we have looked what can happen to it. We learned that it’s very hard to predict so far, because we don’t know much about these events. Iceland and Canada had studies on relay simulations on what can happen, and more on winter climate impacts on load regulations. Load regulations can be very hard for countries like Canada and the Nordic country where we have a lot of forest that’s going out on the road, using the freezing road to drive on. We also heard from Canada, more exactly from Yukon. They have problem with the Alaskan highway up there. But that’s partly, that way is partly on permafrost, so it’s very hard to predict, and we are doing some really interesting tests up there, how to preserve the road and get back the permafrost up there. Canada also talked about seasonal load restrictions and also some new ideas how to deal with ice road construction, because of this global warming problem.

As a whole, as a conclusion of it all, we can say we understand that climate change on winter services is very hard to predict. You probably know that there will be more storms. But will it be snow storms or rain storms anyhow? We don’t know really yet, but we have to look at different scenarios to be prepared for these kind of things. Bearing capacity, as I said earlier, could be a very hard thing, especially for Nordic countries, Canada and up here, which are depending on the forest industry, the lumber industry. Because there could be – and we have seen a little of that already in Sweden – that there are different toll cycles during a winter period. That means we couldn’t take off the lumber from the forest. There’s a lot of money in that. And there are some countries analysis on road network, which indicates that there could be problems with permafrost and ice roads. Like I said, that’s kind of connected to it. We also saw that Sweden and USA had done some analysis on rising sea levels, and that can affect it very hard as well, not only the winter services, but all the maintenance that we have to deal with in the future.

But the main conclusion about this, I think, is we’ve got to know more about this. We know there are models. There are big models, but we don’t know very much what will happen to the road network and how we shall be prepared for this coming storm, if they’re rain storms, snow storms or whatever. So I want to see more models for this so we can use as road administrations and maintainers of roads for the future, and I hope that will be a good opportunity for that at least when we go to Andorra in four years. And of course, I want to thank all the authors of the papers that were coming in, and the presentations, both in poster sessions and the oral sessions, and of course my group that have helped me with this. I also want to thank Québec for having this great hospitality and together with the delegates made this a great conference. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Ölander. And I also want to thank all the reviewing group leaders we have just heard, but not only them, but also the other members in the technical committee, and I also want to say that we had great support from here in Québec, and also from the General Secretariat in Paris. So thank you very much, all. I also want to mention another work, and that is the Snow and ice Data book. We have updated the version we had in Torino with some new countries, but also the countries we already had in the Torino version. We have now a newer description from the different countries. And that work had been led by Richard Charpentier from Québec. And I thank you very much for that.

So you have now got a very short summary of the technical session, and I want to take this opportunity to also tell that our technical committee also has working groups, and during this period of four years, we are working with activities which will have outlets like what you can see on the slide now. It is case studies of best practice in design and implementation of information management system, and also best practice about communication, and what optimum sustainability means in terms of winter maintenance strategies to achieve it, impact of climate change on winter service, proposed actions as preventive measures, and also as you know, definition of the technical program of this congress, and also seminars.

We had an international seminar last October in Hradec Králové in Czech Republic, and the theme for that was Technical Solution for Sustainable Winter Service. And we were about 180 participants there, mainly from around the Czech Republic, but also the technical committee. All those outputs you will find on the website of PIARC, and you have the address up there, www.piarc.org, and you will find the virtual library, all these documents. You can also hear, see some promotion for the seminar we had in Hradec Králové. Now you can find also that document on the website of PIARC. And I will end by showing some photos from winter traffic in Sweden, and many thanks for everyone for participating in the congress. Thank you very much.

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The closing session continued by the official presentation of the trophy to the winner of the first International Snowplow Championship, Mr. Ryan Campbell, from the United States. The President of the World Road Association, Ms. Anne-Marie Leclerc, awarded him the prize. Then, a video showed the competition highlights.

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President of the World Road Association, Ms. Anne-Marie Leclerc It is with great honour and pleasure that I award this trophy to the winner of the first International Snowplow Championship during the Winter Road Congress. This friendly competition aims to showcase the snowplow drivers by inviting them to demonstrate their abilities and dexterity. They have to show us what they can do! Winter service is crucial to the lives of societies and requires complete mastery of the job.

By launching this competition during the XIII edition of the Congress' program, organizers wanted to provide snowplow operators with the opportunity to share and learn from each other's work practices and work together in their shared goal to provide better service. They also wanted to raise awareness among delegates and exhibitors about the remarkable work done by these snow removal truck drivers, who day and night, use their talents to provide winter service for the mobility of users to ensure safe and clear roads.

The 20 participants of this first International Championship came from Andorra, Canada and Québec, South Korea, the United States, Morocco and Sweden. I want to thank them for their sportsmanship and enthusiastic participation, as well as their government who took the opportunity to recognize these men.

This competition highlights the precision, speed and safe operation in their driving. The candidates were assessed according to 4 major criteria: punctuality, mechanical inspection, ability, and speed.

Before welcoming the winner, I want to thank the Chair of the Organizing Committee of this Championship,
Mr. Mario Bergeron, and all the volunteers' hard work in making this Championship a real success. I hope that this first edition is followed by many others.

Now I invite you to join me in welcoming the first winner of the International Snowplow Championship: Mr. Ryan Campbell, an operator from the United States, our neighbour below, hails from Maine. Mr. Campbell, please come on stage, congratulations!

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Before dessert was served, the Master of Ceremonies announced the name of the most eco-responsible exhibitor, Ver-Mac, as part of the competition mentioned in Blizzard. In addition, the cumulative efforts of the eco-responsible Congress made it possible to effectively reduce the quantity of waste produced over these four days. On February 10, the diversion rate was 78%, which is higher than the objectives set by the organization. Sincere thanks to everyone for their efforts!

The President of the World Road Association concluded with a few words of thanks.

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Hello, I have a few words to say about this event.

This gathering of decision-makers and experts on winter service for road users has shown, once again, its usefulness and effectiveness.

Monday, the decision-makers, ministers, mayors and road authorities’ leaders echoed the experts who, after long and detailed preparation, presented a comprehensive report on winter service.

All these delegates told us about the planning, management, implementation, road safety and mobility, topics that they discussed from social, economic and environmental perspectives. They also talked about the information system for users, its importance and reviewed the snow and ice control techniques and technologies.

Lastly, 2 major themes that are important to our Association served as an overview for this Congress: sustainable mobility and climate change impacts on our practices.

This 2010 snapshot of winter service enables us to appreciate the progress we have made since the last Congress held in Turin in 2006. It also enables us to highlight some new avenues of research and to set the objectives for our next meeting that will be held in Andorra in 2014.

There are many factors that make up the foundation of the success of a Congress. First, clearly the technical team, the Technical Committee B5, for 40 years, took over organizing this Winter Road Congress. The team is brilliantly led by its Chair, Ms. Gudrun Öberg. I wish to sincerely thank her, as well as the members of the Technical Committee, who brought together such a large number of experts through a program developed by showcasing the knowledge and know-how that made this Québec Congress a success.

Second, the exceptional work of the General Secretariat team and its extensive experience in organizing gatherings for decision-makers and experts from government road authorities.

Last, the host government of the Congress and its commitment to the Association's values, cooperation and involvement in developing and sharing knowledge. Its degree of involvement in winter service but also its know-how in the organization of these types of events have been widely shown today.

I want to thank the Government of Québec, Mr. Michel Boivin, First Delegate, Mr. Alain Labonté, who managed the Québec 2010 team and Mr. Mario Bergeron, without whom the snowplow competition would not have been possible. I also want to thank the exhibitors, who make up a key part of our congresses.

In closing, I would like to sincerely thank the delegates, who gave meaning to this organization.

I wish you a safe return and you will soon hear about the congresses ahead. I hope to see you then as numerous and especially as enthusiastic. Thank you very much.

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The Secretary General of the World Road Association, Mr. Jean-François Corté, presented the Association’s next two Congresses: the XXIV World Road Congress in Mexico City in 2011, and the XIV Winter Road Congress in Andorra la Vella in 2014. He then invited the representatives of these two organizations to present their Congresses.

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First of all, I would like to be grateful to the organization of this congress. You make us feel warm in this cold weather!

I’m here to announce the congress that will take place in Mexico City in the year 2011, in September. This is going to be the 24th congress on a 100-year history of the World Road Association. We are inviting you, all of you, to share your experiences, your expertise. We are inviting you to update your knowledge, or perhaps show your problems or your innovations in this great opportunity, in this magnificent event that will take place in Mexico City in the year 2011.

We are expecting more than 4 000 people, 50 ministers, 500 exhibitors from more than 100 countries of the world. So this is a great chance. We have selected great topics for you; the main theme will be: “Mobility, Sustainability and Development”. And everything will be focused to improve the standards of living of all of us human beings. So, that’s why we have chosen “Roads for a better life” as the slogan of the congress. Don’t you think this is a time to share your experiences and your knowledge to participate into this process of enhancing the quality of life of the whole world? I think so. I think so that yes, you should. So, don’t miss the chance to meet this opportunity, participate and help us with our task to enhance the quality of life in the whole world.

We will be holding this congress in three languages: we will speak in Spanish, we will have French and we will have English. And we will provide you with simultaneous translation for your comfort and convenience. The program we have elaborated will include an opening session, a closing session, an important-minister session, 18 sessions of technical committees, 13 special sessions, 4 strategic direction sessions. We will have technical visits and poster sessions as well. And as any congress of this type, we will have a social program. The social program will be for accompanying persons. We will offer you a welcome hotel, where you will enjoy some of our cultural manifestations, and of course, the traditional gala dinner that is offered by this kind of congresses throughout the whole world.

We will start the call for papers very soon. So, if you’re interested in participating in this change of the world, you are invited to visit our Web page and see all about our colorful papers that will start very soon. And we will accept national reports as well as individual papers. And the individual papers will be subject to prizes, PIARC prizes that you can consult about this on the Web page as well.

We will have an exhibition, a 12 000-square-meter exhibition, a 130 000‑square‑feet exhibition, where you can offer your products, your innovations, or whatever you want to show to the world. So, you can reserve from this day and on and you will have the opportunity to enjoy our wonderful country. You will have the opportunity to experiment our magnificent culture, our extraordinary weather, and the beautiful people from our country that are waiting for you with their arms open.

So, come to Mexico. As I already told you, we will be waiting for you with our arms open, and I can assure you, you will not regret this experience. Thank you very much for listening.

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President of the Organizing Committee of the XIV International Winter Road Congress, in Andorra la Vella (Andorra), in 2014, Mr. David Palmitjavila Download presentation : I shall now present in a few words the 14th Winter Road Congress which will be taking place in Andorra. The theme will be “The Colours of Snow: Technology and Winter Service”.

Why the colours of snow? In Andorra, we manage winter service using several colours. One of our aims is to guarantee mobility for the entire population of the country, whether residents or the tourists who come to visit every year, mostly to ski. Why the colours of snow? Behind every procedure, there’s a lot of technology. We have many control centres for traffic in general and for winter service. 90% of our roads are controlled by information technology. Our systems provide continuous information and we have superb equipment to suit the geography of our country, with one snowplow for every 13.5 kilometres of roadway.

Andorra, for those who don’t know, is on the leading edge when it comes to winter road technology. And now we want it to be a meeting place so that we can share our winter road experience. Andorra has an area of 468 square kilometres. It’s located in the mountains, in the Pyrenees. This will be the first time in PIARC’s history that the winter road congress will take place in the Pyrenees. Our candidacy had the unconditional support of France and Spain, and thus I can come before you today to invite you to the congress that will be taking place in Andorra four years from now.

The capital, Andorra la Vella, is a modern city, and both the city and the country are among the safest in the world. Andorra is also a country which shares its eco-responsibility. 10% of the territory is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It’s a great place to do business, but also to have fun. For those who are not sure where Andorra is, we are in the middle of the Pyrenees, between Spain and France. It’s easy to travel to Andorra from the international airports in Toulouse, France or Barcelona, Spain. The trip is less than two hours by road, on a year-round shuttle bus system that will take you to Andorra at any time. And it’s not too far to the international airports in Madrid and Paris.

There’s a congress centre of more than 4000 square metres in Andorra la Vella, and we have plenty of experience putting on sporting and cultural events. The Tour de France has gone through many times, giving us international prominence. And for those who don’t know, Andorra has been a PIARC member for 25 years, a lengthy history of participation. As in Mexico City, there will be three official languages at the congress: French, English and Spanish. As I mentioned, there’s a new congress centre of over 4000 square metres and over 9000 square metres of exhibit space, all 15 minutes from hotels. Andorra has 38,000 hotel spaces, of which 2500 are within 15 minutes of the congress centre.

We want this to be a conference that looks outward, a conference with high quality presentations, technical visits, and equipment demonstrations. And of course we will be inviting you to the second international snowplowing championship! We will try to at least match what has been here in the City of Québec.

Our organizing committee has representation from the Andorran government and from all Andorran institutions, including the city council in the capital. I would like to thank the Mayor of Andorra la Vella, who is here with our delegation representing all the municipal councils in the Principality. They have all turned their attention to the congress and they hope their efforts will meet your expectations.

And remember, Andorra is not just business. We hope you will discover our sports, our natural wonders and our culture.

Thank you, and I hope these words and images will persuade you to come, and we look forward to seeing you all in Andorra in 2014. Thank you very much.

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Mr. Palmitjavila, please let me congratulate you on the quality of your speech.

You have shown us that you are very motivated and enthusiastic, and it seems to me that those are two indispensable things that will help you through the upcoming years while organizing the next congress.

I hope that what you were able to take advantage of the Québec experience while you were here. I have no doubt that you will put in tremendous effort so that delegates from across the world can take full advantage of these few days of fruitful exchanges. I would also like to take this opportunity, in the presence of the Minister of Andorra, the honourable Vicenç Alay, to wish him the best of luck in this great undertaking.

I am convinced that the XIV Winter Road Congress in Andorra will be a huge success! Minister, you have the floor.

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Thank you Mr. Boivin. I would first like to thank Canada’s federal government, the government of Québec, the City of Québec and of course the PIARC organizing committee, in particular Ms. Leclerc. Thank you all, thank you for the welcome we received, and congratulations on the quality of the organization and on the successful outcome of the work that went into this congress.

This was the first congress held in the Americas and the congress in 2014 in Andorra la Vella will be the first congress in the Pyrenees. Congratulations on your efforts and may I take this opportunity to encourage the organizers of the next congress in Mexico, in 2011. And to my colleagues, thank you for your efforts as weel and for the will to set up a great congress in 2014 in the Principality of Andorra. We’ll be waiting to welcome you. Thank you.

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Thanks, you, Minister. The aim of this Congress, ending today, was to take stock of the best practices in winter road service and discuss the issues that are of concern to the experts and decision-makers. This Congress also enabled us to to explore shared ideas and opportunities to put forward solutions that will help us offer our citizens road transport systems that perform increasingly better from a sustainable development perspective. I believe that these objectives have largely been met. Congratulations to all of you!

I also want to point out the exceptional contribution from the members of the Organizing Committee and I cannot fail to mention the commitment of the Association and its President, Ms. Anne-Marie Leclerc, who really contributed to the organization and success of this Congress.

I want to thank the exhibitors, speakers and delegates who have been shown their great openness in sharing their expertise and experiences with their colleagues from around the world. This is the key to the success of this type of event and in the spirit of the Association's mission, which we are proud to uphold. Thank you.

In closing, for those who are staying with us, I hope you have a wonderful time in the City of Québec, and for those who are leaving, have a safe trip home. Thank you.