Rationale

The transportation infrastructure plays an essential role for the socio-economic development of the Atlantic Area.

The transportation network crosses different geotechnical and environmental conditions, increasing its exposure to climatic hazards. Moreover, transportation infrastructures are very heterogeneous, leading to additional difficulties in properly managing such assets. The management strategies are different from territory to territory, increasing the variability and the vulnerability, especially at the borders. Moreover, there is a lack of overview and coordination. The complementarity of the management and risk prevention approaches for transportation infrastructure is essential to implement efficient methodologies and tools, not only at the infrastructure level, but also regarding its interaction with the surrounding environment and activities.

Most of the transportation of people and goods in Atlantic Area is made through rail and road. The performance of these infrastructures is directly affected by extreme natural events and by the strong corrosion processes that result from proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.

As natural hazards do not recognize boundaries, risk-based management based on geographical information and experience cannot be done without transnational cooperation, as they require a common working framework for intervention and decision making. So, transnational cooperation should bring new and complementary knowledge, not only in terms of state of knowledge but also in terms of applied practice.

Previous projects have focused on specific applications (roads, rails, bridges, tunnels) with limited efficiency (not applicable for large failures); and they are not self-healing. Most important, they have not yet been tested within infrastructure monitoring systems.