Welcome letter

As President of the Organizing Committee of the 2nd International Seminar on Tunnels and ITS Applications, I am pleased to invite you all to participate in this new edition of the Seminar which will be held in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, between the 23rd and 26 March, 2010. This will be an excellent opportunity to share experiences among professionals, technicians and official decision-makers who take part, in various ways, in tunnel development and intelligent transport system applications.

In current times, when the surface space to develop new infrastructure is ever more at a premium while, at the same time, communications means and needs are growing steadily, underground tunneling has become a very attractive alternative to solve this contemporary issue. On this account, we understand that this International Seminar comes propitiously to allow the decision-makers be informed on the state-of-the-art technology and world-wide trends on these fields.

This time the Seminar is organized by The National Roads & Highways Bureau of Argentina (Dirección Nacional de Vialidad), the World Roads Association (la Asociación Mundial de la Carretera), the Mountain Road Engineering School of the National University of San Juan, Argentina (Escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos de Montaña de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan), the ITS Argentine Chapter and the ITS Chilean Chapter. This seminar will congregate well-known experts and foremost professional leaders in this field from all over the world who will discuss, among other subjects, on the importance of technology transfer, the improvement of tunnel operational safety and on the contribution of ITS for risk detection, analysis and prevention. As a well-known triggering factor, the tragic accidents occurred in the tunnels of Mont Blanc (France-Italy) and Tauern (Austria) have urged the pertaining consulting experts and technical commissions to devise preventive measures and to engineer constructional and technological solutions aimed at minimizing the risks on tunnels users. At present, the conclusions of their work are entering the reporting and institutionalizing phases.

The creation of Research Centers to study tunnel ventilation, fire management and public evacuation, has allowed assessing and verifying that the testing of newer materials and technology to be implemented in road and railroad tunnels, as well as the proven need to foster greater expertise of tunnel personnel to perform efficiently at contingency times, are all fundamental factors to help this industrial sector grow furthermore.

This interdisciplinary Seminar will seek that the professionals, technicians, infrastructure works officials, the consulting companies and contractors who are involved in tunnel construction and tunnel usage safety have a broader panorama on the tools and solution approaches currently available in the national and international markets. Among the contributions this meeting aims at achieving are the optimal design conception and construction for an efficient exploitation of tunnel projects, with the foremost, unyielding importance focused on top-safety conditions.

The past edition of the Seminar, held in the City of Santiago de Chile on April, 2009, has shown that these meetings have overcome former geo-political barriers. The meeting has been a fruitful international forum where the current views, experiences and innovative projects have greatly enriched the content of presentations and discussions, and have also enabled attain an optimized drive towards technology transfer.

As a novelty or this edition, and to complement the rich presentations, it was decided to bring about the 1st ExpoTunnel which will be held simultaneously with the seminar. It will be the ideal complement to the technical activities and will allow the guests to know and have an insight on the latest technological advances, the new products and services in this field.

Several Projects, such as the Agua Negra International Tunnel that crosses the Argentine-Chilean border on the Andes, the Low-Altitude Tunnel for the Central TransAndean Railroad, the the drainage and sewage network tunnels in Partido de Tigre, a county in northern Metropolitan Buenos Aires, and a similar scheme for the Riachuelo, a dividing river between the Capital District and the Province of Buenos Aires; the highway tunnels through La Pólvora and San Cristobal hills in Metropolitan Santiago de Chile, and the multi-lane ring highway 'Circunvalación M3' in Madrid, Spain, are just some of the many projects that will be exhibited and expounded during the four days of the meeting. All these works will show that the concretion of these infrastructure schemes are highly-demanding but necessary challenges for all the region.

Based on the above reasons, I reiterate the invitation for participation open to professionals, technicians, contractor and consultant companies, public officials, decision makers and students interested in this field, as well as all the foreign experts who wish to share their valuable knowledge in tunnel engineering and construction, and in the application of ITS Systems.

I also want to remark that all the entities participating in organizing the Seminar have accepted the commitment toward the public to work for the general well-being by facilitating the communications and the flow of road users and transported goods, and for optimizing with these engineering schemes the economy of the regions involved and, in metropolitan areas, to make them more lively places for their citizens.

Early autumn is an ideal time to visit Buenos Aires, with its typical attractions and cultural events. We are doing our best to provide you with varied social activities to complement an interesting Seminar program. We will look forward to seeing you all on March 23-26, 2010 at the Sheraton Hotel of the City of Buenos Aires.

Ing. Nelson Guillermo Periotti
General Director, Dirección Nacional de Vialidad - Argentina
President of the Seminar's Organizing Committee