Condition assessment of existing regional and rural roads in Albania

Abstract

The conditions of roads are facing problems for many developed countries. In order to complement poverty reduction strategies and progressing as developed country, regional and rural transport interventions must be an integral part of such development interventions and focus on the mobility and access needs of communities. Substantial gains in accessibility—for more communities, in more regions of our country—are possible if regional and rural transport infrastructure interventions are designed in a least-cost, network-based manner focusing on reducing economic inequality and willing to maintain the service. In view of budget constraints, selecting interventions requires a participatory physical planning process undertaken jointly with concerned local governments and communities, supported and coordinated by regional or central government agencies. The roads in Albania had been constructed with different standards in different periods and exposed traffic loads which have rapidly increased during last two decades. Despite the fact that existing condition of some roads have been considered by ADF, an attempt was made on this study to draw a general picture of Albanian’s Roads. The condition of Albanian Roads was presented in this paper based on visual inspection of 1000 km roads, from different areas that are part of the country, concentrating on their conditions. Study concludes that general physical state of the roads are improved consider five years before, therefore, the service provided by such roads is affecting safety and we identified the opportunity to improve maintenance as the key factor for roads condition. Resources are scarce. In this context, participatory selection procedures and analytical prioritization tools are presented, and examples given, which take into account the social and economic importance of regional and rural transport infrastructure.