Riyadh: Under the patronage of the Minister of Transport and Logistics Services and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Roads General Authority, Eng. Saleh Al-Jasser, the authority has launched the Saudi Road Code, which is a technical reference targeting all entities responsible for roads in the Kingdom.
The code is designed to provide entities such as ministries, regional development and city development authorities, and regional, city and governorate municipalities with the information needed to plan, design, build, operate, and maintain all types of roads in the Kingdom.
The code sets specific levels of safety, security, economic efficiency, environment protection, and sustainability.
The launch of this national code underscores the role of the authority as a government body overseeing and regulating the entire road network in Saudi Arabia.
Its role entails developing policies, regulations and systems regulating road construction and maintenance.
The authority, in partnership with all relevant
entities, prepared the Saudi Road Code according to the best global practices, ensuring that it contributes to achieving the objectives of the road sector strategy, which focuses on safety, quality, and traffic density, with the aim of increasing the safety and sustainability of roads led by national expertise, improving the quality of the road network and the user experience, and encouraging innovation.
The need for the code arose from the multiplicity of entities implementing the road network in the Kingdom and the multiple specifications and policies each entity follows. A specific road code takes into consideration the terrain in different regions, and sets specific standards of safety, security, quality, environment, and sustainability.
It took specialized national personnel and numerous global road sector experts 18 months to prepare the Saudi Road Code. A steering committee including many stakeholders was also formed to prepare this code, to ensure that it serves the development and strategic plans o
f these entities.
The Saudi Road Code comprises 25 protocols to be observed in road planning and preliminary studies; they concern road, bridge, and tunnel design and construction; traffic engineering and road safety; environmental aspects, and requirements for autonomous vehicles.
The authority seeks to organize and supervise the road sector in the Kingdom by setting the necessary policies and standards for road design, construction, and maintenance. The authority aims to achieve the road sector strategy targets, focusing on safety, quality, and traffic density in order to rise to the sixth global rank in road quality and reduce fatalities to less than five cases per 100,000 by 2030.
Source: Saudi Press Agency
