Annual Report 2018 - Reports of the Federal Highway Research Institute

Dealing with changes is our everyday business. We have committed ourselves to improving and increasing the efficiency in constructing and maintaining road infrastructure, as well as to improving its reliability. We intend to improve the performance of the transport system road at the same time as improving road safety and environmental compatibility in road construction and road traffic. We want to make the transport system more resilient and foster technological progress in the roads sector. This means that progress has been our mission since BASt’s founding decree in 1951. Since then, we have focused on the changing and new needs of road users and taken visions and mega trends into consideration. The Zukunfsinstitut futurology centre says on www.zukunftsinstitut.de.: “Mega trends do not need to be ‚forecast’. They are already there and mark changes that have been and will be shaping us for a long time. ... Mega trends are changing the world – albeit slowly but fundamentally and over the long term”. Mega trends as defined by the Zukunftsinstitut harbour opportunities but also risks. It is important to seize the opportunities and minimise the risks. Mega trends are changing our society and naturally also have an impact on a research institute such as the Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, BASt). In the era of connectivity and knowledge culture in an increasingly networked world, having a structure is more important than ever to counteract permanent sensory overload. The development of various in-house planning instruments addresses this issue. With this annual report, we are looking back at the past research year. Part of our work is visible and in the public eye, such as the field trial with longer goods vehicles, our unique duraBASt research premises at the autobahn intersection Köln-Ost and our innovative MESAS measuring vehicle to record road conditions in moving traffic. A large part of our work is less visible but no less important, such as continuously updating technical rules and regulations, reviewing and approving products and procedures and compiling projections and statistics. As of now, we will publish our reports on an annual basis, because we want to inform and update you faster about our work and our projects. You are holding an attractive cross-section of our multifaceted research work of the past year in your hands. Allow us to provide inspiration and give a ‚face’ to our research on the following pages

Zu beziehen über die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt).

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