COUNTRY | Italy
REGION | Europe
SECTOR | transport
SUB-SECTORS | energy distribution, energy generation, renewable energy, roads, bridges and tunnels
QII Principles | Principle 1 Sustainable Growth & Development, Principle 2 Economic Efficiency, Principle 3 Environmental Considerations
QII Sub-Principles | 2: Life-cycle costing, 2: Operation and maintenance, 2: Technological innovation, 2: Risk management, 3: Environmental Impact Assessment, 3: Weather, 3: Emissions, 6: Access to information and data
Overview
Cost: The total investment cost for the ANAS Smart Road project is estimated at one billion until 2030. 250 million euros have been foreseen for the three-year period 2018-2020.
Size: The Smart Road project applies first to all roads and motorways within the Trans-European Networks – Transport (TEN-T) (Core and Comprehensive) or those connecting elements of the TEN-T, and secondly to roads and motorways identified as part of the National Integrated Transport System (SNIT). The goal is to make about 3,000 km of roads "smart" by 2030.
Brownfield or greenfield: brownfield
Parties involved (public and private): Ministry of Infrastructure and Transports of Italy (MIT) and ANAS, public-owned listed company managing roads and motorways of Italy.
Relevant contractual details (type (concession, BOT, PPP etc.), length): Contractual details mainly depend on the type of sub-projects to be realized and generally consist of contractual schemes between Anas and specialized companies, associations and other private stakeholders for the supply and realization of targeted projects. For instance, to realize the pilot case of the Smart Road project on the A2 'Mediterranean Motorway' the contract for the supply and installation of advanced technological systems and workstations was contracted by Anas with the Temporary Association of Companies led by Sinelec and composed of Autostrade Tech and Alpitel.
Context: People's mobility habits and the volume of goods transported have changed in recent years. This has led to a change in the way transport systems are used and to new challenges. This change implied the need to intervene to optimize the transport systems and, more specifically, road transport infrastructure, so that roads and highways could effectively support increased vehicle flows in the safety of people and the environment. Smart roads have therefore become the key component of the Strategy for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) adopted in 2016 by the European Commission. In 2017, Italy approved a framework document for infrastructure development ("Connettere Italia") that included 108 priority infrastructure projects with the aim to: promote accessibility to territories, Europe and the Mediterranean; support sustainable and safe mobility; improve the quality of life and competitiveness of urban and metropolitan areas; support industrial supply chain policies.
Aim(s) of the project – why was the project initiated?: The Smart Road project aims at the modernization of road transport infrastructure in Italy. Through its digitalization and the adoption of advanced technologies, the goal is to better connect people and goods in Italy and at the European level, ensure greater safety to the user by reducing the number of road accidents and monitoring the weather, reduce travel times, energy consumption and C02 emissions.
Aim(s) of the project: The Smart Road project aims at the modernization of road transport infrastructure in Italy. Through its digitalization and the adoption of advanced technologies, the goal is to better connect people and goods in Italy and at the European level, ensure greater safety to the user by reducing the number of road accidents and monitoring the weather, reduce travel times, energy consumption and C02 emissions.
Timeline
Key dates including procurement, construction, operations:
The Smart Road project will be implemented in stages. As a whole, it should be completed by 2030 in line with the European objective of completing the Core TEN-T infrastructure by the same year. The first step, to be carried out in the three-year period 2018-2020, concerns some of the most important motorways in Italy, such as the A2 'Mediterranean Motorway', the A90 'Grande Raccordo Anulare di Roma', the A91 'Autostrada Roma-Aeroporto di Fiumicino', the E45-E55 'Orte-Mestre', the Tangenziale di Catania, SS51 'di Alemagna' and the A19 'Autostrada Palermo Catania'. Works on the A2 'Mediterranean Motorway' started in 2018. In addition, in May 2019 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport also issued the authorization to test on public roads the first self-driven vehicle in Italy, as foreseen by the Smart Road Decree of 2018.
Relevance to QII
The project operationalizes principles and sub-principles selected above, firstly by making use of data collection and sharing technologies in order to improve road transport and user experience. Moreover, digital transformation of the existing road infrastructure, through technological upgrading interventions, will allow costs and implementation times that are on average much lower than interventions on physical infrastructure. In addition, better-monitored roads through IoT will make a more efficient maintenance and emergency management possible, also improving resilience to climate events and weather impacts. Furthermore, through the creation of the so-called Green Islands, renewable electricity from photovoltaic and/or wind will be produced about every 30 km. This clean energy will power equipment on the Smart Road, including electric vehicles. Finally, the completion of an efficient road transport infrastructure network will allow improved mobility between the different areas of the country (especially in the South of Italy) promoting development and cohesion.
Benefits
The Smart Road projects intends to capitalize on the development of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) that can allow vehicles to interact directly with each other and with the road infrastructure. Ultimately, the project will ensure: (i) A safe journey with assisted and/or autonomous driving; (ii) Safe roads, with adequate levels of maintenance; (iii) Timely emergency interventions and alerts from the user's mobile; (iv) Real time information sharing; (v) Increased efficiency of existing infrastructure with the use of modern technology; (vi) Intelligent monitoring, through IoT (Internet of Things) systems, of road infrastructure, traffic and freight transport, as well as the environment and weather conditions; (vii) Monitoring of vehicle flows through Multi Function Smart Camera; (viii) Management and monitoring of tunnels with "Smart Tunnel" methodology; (ix) Traffic management and increase of transport capacity of infrastructures through dynamic lanes; (x) Complete integration of technologies and databases on a single computer platform.
Metrics
For the purposes of monitoring, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of Italy has established a Technical Observatory for Smart Roads. Among others, the Observatory has the responsibility to: (i) study and promote the adoption of methodological and operational tools to monitor the impacts of the process of digitization of road infrastructure and road testing of autonomous vehicles; (b) verify the progress of the digital transformation process towards Smart Roads, the adherence of stakeholders, the effectiveness and adequacy of legislation, the compliance with technical standards of infrastructure interventions.
Name of Institution
Italy - Ministry of Economy and Finance
Website URL