Revision
of the UNECE Trans-European North-South
Motorway (TEM) Project Standards and
Recommended Practice
Geneva, 7 January 2003 - The
UNECE-sponsored Trans-European North-South
Motorway (TEM) Project published the
3rd Edition of its Standards and Recommended
Practice containing motorway design,
construction and operation as well as
newly required safety measures in motorway
tunnels.
The TEM Standards and
Recommended Practice were published
for the first time in 1981 and updated
in 1992. They serve the purpose of ensuring
that planning and design of the TEM
motorway provide for adequate traffic
flow at minimum operating cost, harmonized
conditions for motorway users, proper
level of service, safety, speed and
driver comfort over medium and long
distances. They were elaborated under
the technical guidance provided by the
Governments participating in the TEM
Project and were adopted by the Project's
Steering Committee.
In the course of the
present revision, the UNECE European
Agreement on Main International Traffic
Arteries (AGR) and the 1997 update of
the Highway Capacity Manual (US Transportation
Research Board Special Report 209) were
taken into account. In addition to these
sources, the chapter on tunnels was
revised basically in order to incorporate
the newly required safety measures in
motorway tunnels, including the recommendations
of the UNECE Ad hoc Multidisciplinary
Group of Experts on Safety in Tunnels
established in 1999. The topics covered
are: planning; design parameters; traffic
regulation and safety; facilities; environmental
considerations; bridges; tunnels; and
maintenance related to design.
Although their primary
application will be to the Trans-European
North-South Motorway, the Standards
are available to other United Nations
member countries, which may find them
beneficial for the formulation or updating
of their national standards.
The full text of the
standards and Recommended Practices
is available on the UNECE web site:
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/tem/temstand.html
The TEM Project is
a sub-regional cooperation framework
established in 1977 under the aegis
of the Geneva-based UNECE by the Governments
of the Central, Eastern and South-Eastern
European countries for the development
of transport infrastructure, assistance
in the integration process of transport
infrastructure systems and the facilitation
of international road traffic in Europe.
The Project, which
is supported by contributions of 13
member countries, has so far been instrumental
in the establishment of and assistance
in the construction of the TEM Network
extending in total to 23,797 km, out
of which 7,201 km (28%) are in operation
and 1,682 km under construction, despite
the significant financial difficulties
of most countries in the region.
The following countries
are members of the TEM: Austria, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary,
Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
and Turkey. The Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Sweden and Ukraine are observers.
For additional information
please contact:
Mr. Jose Capel Ferrer, Director,
or
Mr. Michalis P. Adamantiadis, Regional
Adviser
UNECE Transport Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10
Tel: +41(0)22 917 24 01, 917 11
28
Fax: +41(0)22 917 00 39
E-mail: [email protected]
or [email protected]
Web site: http://unece.org/trans/welcome.html
(Under TEM heading)
Ref: ECE/TRANS/03/01