‘Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2006’ is a major international conference being organised by CEDR, ERTRAC and the European Commission, set to take place in Göteborg, Sweden, this June.
The first in a series of events on road transport, TRA 2006’s main theme will be the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA) in support of a sustainable, safer and more efficient road transport system in Europe.

According to organisers, the meeting will cover all aspects of road transport. Its objective is to  promote the strategic alignment of road transport research, bringing together all European road research stakeholders around a shared ‘Strategic Research Agenda’ (SRA). Among other things, this means combining and coordinating European, national, regional and private research actions, improving networking and pooling research and development capacities.
The organisers:

• CEDR, the Conference of European Directors of Roads, based in Paris, contributes to future road traffic systems and networks as part of an integrated transport strategy.
• ERTRAC, the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, is the Technology Platform whose Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) guides road research in Europe.
• The European Commission as well as individual European Member States are supporting the conference on a variety of levels.
• National organisers: Vägverket, the Swedish Road Administration, and Vinnova, the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems

The Commission’s Luisa Prista, Head of the Research Directorate-General’s Surface Transport Unit, has said, “The Göteborg conference in 2006 will be a major step towards a Transport Research Arena in Europe. The support that the Commission is giving to this initiative reflects the importance of sustainable road transport within the larger European agenda.” Call for papers In addition to major plenary sessions, the conference will include poster sessions and more than 40 parallel thematic sessions, featuring paper presentations. TRA 2006 is now welcoming the submission of abstracts for review. Approved authors will be asked to submit a full paper for oral or poster presentations.

Presentations will be cover the following main topics:

• Research needs and agendas;
• Mobility of people and transport of goods;
• Safety and security;
• Energy, environment and resources;
• Design and production;
• Integrated approaches.