4th MEETING OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE 4.4
"BRIDGES AND RELATED STRUCTURES" OF PIARC

The three-day meeting of the Technical Committee 4.4 of PIARC “Bridges and Related Structures” took place from the 10th to the 12th of October 2005 in Thessaloniki.

Thirty one Committee members participated representing twenty three countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Greece, United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan, Spain, Iran, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Norway, South Africa, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic).

Τhe Chairman of Egnatia Odos A.E. Professor Apostolos Goulas and the Vice Chairman of Egnatia Odos A.E. Professor Asterios Liolios paid honor to the committee’s activities. The Chairman of the Greek National Committee of PIARC Dr Sergios Lambropoulos was also present.

Within the framework of the Committee activities the Chairman Mr. Rafael Astudillo (Spain) and the lead authors Dr. Brian Hayes (UK), Mr. John Bjerrum (Denmark) and Mr. Peter Graham (Australia) presented to members of the Greek Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works and Egnatia Odos A.E. the three topics that are currently under development by the Committee :

  Design and construction of bridges for durability.

  Increase of durability or lifetime of existing bridges.

  Approaches to cost effective management of bridges.

The Committee English Speaking Secretary Dr. Dimitrios Konstantinidis presented the new terms that the Committee will examine and finally propose to the Terminology Committee of PIARC. The minutes of the meeting are available online at the PIARC website.

On Wednesday 12th of October a technical visit was made to the bridges, tunnels and the traffic control centre at Kastania Bypass of Egnatia Odos Motorway, followed by a cultural visit to Vergina King tombs and the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki.