FALCON II. : Input for a european PBS definition : review of vehicle legislations and infrastructure design criteria

In Europe, the regulation on weights and dimensions of trucks are complex : European rules are given by EC Directive 96/53/EC as modified by Directive (EU) 2015/719 [1]. These rules apply for international traffic, but countries can decide to add specific national rules. Moreover, these rules are often different from one country to another, due to policy choices and local history. More specifically, the impact of trucks on infrastructure has not always been the primary fact for defining these rules. But in other countries or other research domains, performance based standards (PBS) are used to determine what is allowed, in terms of performance. For example, vehicles may be allowed in terms of their induced damage on bridges (Bridge Formula, see [2]) or dynamic behavior (PBS as in Australia for example). In another context, materials and structures are now often defined in calls for tender in terms of performance (durability, resistance for example). In this context, the work package (WP) C (Fit for purpose road vehicles to influence modal choice) of CEDR project FALCON (Freight And Logistics in a multimodal CONtext) aims at developing Performance Based Standards [3]. For that, the first step is to create a state-of-the art of the European situation concerning vehicle policy and infrastructure. This paper summarizes this work: the first section gives insight on the European vehicle policy. The second section presents the infrastructure catalogue developed within the FALCON project. Finally, these infrastructure elements are characterized in terms of design criteria in Section 3.