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17TH World Congress on Road Winter Service, Resilience and Decarbonisation - Proceedings of the Congress

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PIARC Awards 2026

  1. The Awards
  2. PIARC Prize Winners by Category
  3. The International Jury
  4. Other Congress Awards

PIARC Awards 2026 objectives

The "PIARC Prizes 2026" are designed to:

  • Encourage innovation
  • Recognize professional excellence
  • Highlight topics of strategic importance
  • Promote the participation and contributions of developing countries
  • Stimulate long-term reflection on the future of transport systems

The Awards

The Prizes were awarded to the best papers submitted in response to the Congress Call for Papers. Each Prize category was supported by a PIARC member organisation:

  • Winter Service: Service intercantonal d’entretien du réseau autoroutier -SIERA (Switzerland)
  • Resilience: AustRoads (Australia and New Zealand)
  • Adaptation to Climate Change: Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable (Canada-Québec )
  • Decarbonization: ASFiNAG (Austria) 
  • Young Professional Authors: Federal Ministry for Transport (Germany)
  • Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Country Authors: Japan Road Association / Japanese National Committee (Japan)

PIARC Prize Winners by Category

  • Sponsor: SIERA – Service intercantonal d’entretien du réseau autoroutier (Cantons of Vaud, Fribourg & Geneva, Switzerland) – represented by Francine Varga (CEO, Switzerland) 
  • Winners: Kentaro Kuraji, Yosuke Ishihara, Hitoshi Kato 
  • Project: Road heating using traditional Japanese papermaking techniques (“Carbon Washi”) 
  • Highlights:
      - Combines traditional papermaking with carbon fiber technology
      - Reduces energy consumption by two-thirds
      - Rapid deployment without major roadworks
      - Enhances winter road safety 
  • Sponsor: Austroads (Australia and New Zealand) – represented by Dr. Geoff Allan (Chief Executive, Australia) 
  • Winners: Bryan Crosby, Gary St. Michel, Afzal Waseem
  • Project: British Columbia Transportation & Transit Resilience System 
  • Highlights:
      - Province-wide resilience methodology
      - Integration of climate projections and infrastructure criticality
      - Supports cost-effective adaptation planning 
  • Sponsor: Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable du Québec (Canada-Québec) – represented by Frédéric Pellerin (Assistant Deputy Minister, MTMQ) 
  • Winner: Caroline Evans 
  • Project: Weathering the Storm: Adapting Victoria’s Infrastructure 
  • Highlights:
      - Comprehensive climate risk assessment
      - Use of geospatial and cost-benefit analysis
      - Demonstrates value of proactive adaptation 
  • Sponsor: ASFiNAG – Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen-Finanzierungs-Aktiengesellschaft (Austria) – represented by Andreas Fromm (Managing Director, Austria) 
  • Winners: Mathieu Luzerne, Sandrine Rousic 
  • Project: French national carpooling strategy 
  • Highlights: 
      - €150 million national program
      - Objective to triple carpooling by 2027
      - Significant CO? emissions reduction (250 tons/day) 
  • Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Transport (Germany) – Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr (BMDV) – represented by Karola Lambeck (Head of Directorate StB1, Germany) 
  • Winners: Magnus Bendsen, Jarkko Pirinen 
  • Project: From data to decisions through standardization and technology 
  • Highlights: 
      - Focus on harmonized data standards
      - Use of IoT and floating car data
      - Improved winter maintenance decision-making 
  • Sponsor: Japan Road Association / Japanese National Committee – represented by Shigeru Kikukawa (PIARC Honorary President, Japan) 
  • Winners: Pradeep Agrawal, Gurendra Nath Bhardwaj 
  • Project: Performance-based rural road maintenance (PMGSY, India) 
  • Highlights: 
      - Performance-based contracting approach
      - Digital platform (e-MARG) for monitoring and billing
      - Nationwide scalability 
  • Resilience 
      - Gaku Suzuki, Yuki Hiramatsu 
      - Extending the longevity of pothole repairs using water-activated asphalt primer 
  • Adaptation to Climate Change 
      - André Horth, Zehir Kolli 
      - Assessment of the vulnerability of the French national road network to climate change 
  •  Decarbonization 
      - Shota Hashimoto, Yosuke Funamizu, Yoshiki Matsuoka, Takashi Nakano, Naoya Hirota, Isamu Kage 
      - Cost-effectiveness of GHG reduction technologies for steel bridges 

The International Jury

The International Jury, chaired by PIARC’s Communications Commission, included members of the financial partners of the Prizes, the Strategic Planning Commission, and the General Secretariat. 

All winning papers were also presented as part of the technical sessions of the Congress, and a dedicated issue of PIARC Routes/Roads magazine will feature the awarded contributions.

Other Congress Awards

  • Winner: Technical Committee 2.2 – Roads for Equity, Accessibility and Mobility in Rural and Interurban Areas 
  • Award received by Chair of TC 2.2: Mrs. Imen Makhlouf (Tunisia) 
  • Technical Committee 1.3 – Finance and Procurement 
  • Technical Committee 1.5 – Disaster Management 
  • Technical Committee 3.2 – Winter Service 
  • Technical Committee 4.2 – Bridges 
  • Technical Committee 4.4 – Tunnels 
  • Technical Committee 4.5 – Decarbonization of Road Construction and Maintenance 
  • Winner Session: Decarbonisation Session 05 – Decarbonisation of Construction & Maintenance (Part 1) 
  • Chair of Technical Committee 4.5 : Mr. Louis Bettini (Australia) 

Winner: Joshua Mattheis (France), French speaking Secretary of Technical Committee 4.5

Presentation: Carbon reduction of roadway earthworks construction through logistics and planning