in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian
Railway and facilitation of land transport projects.
The Intergovernmental Agreement on the
Asian Highway Network entered into force on July
4, 2005, marking the beginning of a new era in
the development of international highways in the
ESCAP region. Some of the major benefits of the
Agreement include:
●●
Basis for co-ordinated development of road
networks at regional, sub-regional and
national levels;
●●
Interest in greater connectivity at
the regional/sub-regional level which
subsequently led to the development of
sub-regional networks;
●●
Common design and technical standards
for highway development for regional roads,
which was later adopted by many subregional organisations;
●●
Enhanced domestic and road transport
connectivity that has been supporting the
growth of national economies and intercountry trade;
●●
Better negotiating position of Member
States to secure financing by development
banks as well as to maintain minimum
design standards; and
●●
Greater interest of development banks
in financing road projects of regional
importance.
The Asian Highway network, together with the
Trans-Asian Railway network, for which another
intergovernmental agreement came into effect
on June 11, 2009, has become an important
building block for the realization of the vision of
an international, integrated intermodal transport
system in Asia, and is receiving priority attention
in the national infrastructure development
programmes of member countries.
Policies and Issues
Policies and issues related to the development of
the Asian Highway and road transport continue to
attract the interest of policymakers and experts
attending legislative and expert group meetings
and workshops organised by the secretariat.
The legislative meetings held in 2014 and
2015 included:
(a) 7th session of the Commission (Bangkok,
May 23, 2014 and August 4-8, 2014);
(b) 4th session of the Committee on Transport
(Bangkok, October 15-17, 2014); and
(c) 71st session of the Commission (Bangkok,
May 25-29, 2015).
These meetings highlighted the important
role of the Asian Highway in promoting regional
integration and acknowledged the progress made
by member States in developing the network.
Technical Standards
As part of the above, the secretariat, with
financial and technical support from the Korea
Expressway Corporation of the Republic of Korea,
is implementing a three-year project entitled
“Development of technical standards on road
infrastructure safety facilities and model ITS
deployments for the Asian Highway (AH) Network”.
The project, which is part of the initiative to
achieve inclusive and sustainable development
through regional co-operation and integration in
transport in the Asia and Pacific region, has the
following objectives:
(a) Establishment of road safety facility
infrastructure standards. While harmonization
of road construction standards is important,
attention should also be given to “above-theground” installations, in particular those linked to
road safety, such as acceleration and deceleration
lanes, warning signs, regulatory signs, speed
reduction devices and roadside safety features.
Easing drivers’ vehicle operation and increased
safety require a “predictability of events” during
road trips. Given that increased connectivity
will gradually lead to enhanced cross-border
road movements, it is highly desirable that this
“predictability of events” be uniform along the
region’s road infrastructure and that standards be
established to that effect.
(b) Development of model intelligent
transport systems deployments. The evolution
towards an increasingly information-based society
is transforming travel and transport. The project
provides an opportunity to study the experience
of selected member countries in implementing
intelligent transport systems to improve road
infrastructure management and operation, in
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