Pursuant to our policy of open and transparent communication, Infraestruturas de Portugal provides public information relating to the infrastructure we manage. The data is provided for diverse interested parties, the State as the entity issuing the Concession, regulatory entities, clients, suppliers and the general public.
This information is updated every year and is a fundamental element for defining the needs, strategy and priorities that serve as the basis for the company’s short and medium-term investment plan. It enables greater optimization while managing available resources and the response capacity for maintaining a suitable level of service (availability and reliability) to meet customer expectations.
This analysis brings together the indicators compiled via the regular activity of inspections and assessing the condition of the road infrastructure IP manages. The performance indicators for 2019 are now available.
Safety of The Infrastructure
It is important to note that the assets classified at minimum values do not represent a safety risk for using the infrastructure. This assessment only serves to indicate the prioritizing of intervention work.
The infrastructure’s safety is safeguarded by means of inspections and audits and, whenever necessary, maintenance is carried out immediately, while operating conditions are kept at suitable levels (e.g., speed and/or cargo limits, road restrictions or stopping traffic).
- Scope and Methodology
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Assets
IP provides public information concerning the state of the infrastructure it manages with regard to the following type of assets that are part of the road infrastructure:
- Road surfacing
- Special structures (bridges and tunnels)
Assessment methodology
The state of the road infrastructure is assessed by means of a methodology that transforms technical data from inspections into integrated management information.
Considering the need to harmonize the assessments of the state of the different types of assets that make up the networks, results are presented on the basis of four qualitative levels (Good, Reasonable, Needs Attention and Unsatisfactory). Known as the ‘Condition Status’, these levels correspond to a continuous scale that varies between 0 (zero) and 8 (eight), expressed as a Performance Indicator.
Condition Status Performance Indicator (PI) Description Good 6.00 to 8.00 Suitable for the long term Reasonable 4.00 to 5.99 Suitable for the medium term Needs Attention 2.00 to 3.99 Suitable for the short term Unsatisfactory 0.00 to 1.99 Needs investment Sources of information
This information is based on technical data from inspections, essentially obtained during the main inspection schedules for the networks. IP’s constant emphasis on developing technologies and processes for inspections and diagnostics, means that the methodology used to calculate the indicators could change, limiting comparisons with previous data and the interpretation of the information at a given point in time.
Moreover, the main inspections are part of a broader set of management and audit activities for the networks, which also include routine inspections for the aforesaid group of assets, generating daily information and, whenever necessary, these activities could result in actions to ensure that the infrastructure is used safely.
- Performance Indicators
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The representative values for the National Roadways Network correspond to the weighted average (pursuant to maintenance and renovation costs) of the respective indicators for each group of assets.
Considering the assessment referring to the previous year, the value of the Performance Indicator for the NRN is seen to be stable (from 4.87 in 2018 to 4.86 in 2019).
Among the groups of assets under consideration, a slight variation was recorded in the category ‘Special Structures’ (from 5.29 in 2018 to 5.28 in 2019), as well as in the ‘Road surfacing’ category (4.67 in 2018 and 4.66 in 2019).
In both cases it is important to note the high percentage of assets in a ‘Good’ or ‘Reasonable’ state (90% and 78%, respectively).
