HVTT12 is organized under a global initiative by the International Forum for Road Transport Technology (http://road-transport-technology.org), with the Nordic Road Association (http://www.nvfnorden.org) working group “Vehicles and Transports” as local host.
IFRTT was formed after the first Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions symposium run by the Roads and Transport Association of Canada in 1986. The purpose of the IFRTT organization is to:
Advance the agenda on heavy vehicle transport issues through the sharing of knowledge and exchange of views between researchers, policy makers, regulators, road agencies and the transport industry
There have been 11 IFRTT hosted symposia, known as the Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology symposia or HVTT, held biannual at various international locations since 1986:
- Kelowna, Canada (twice)
- Cambridge, UK
- Ann Arbor, USA
- Maroochydore, Australia
- Saskatoon, Canada
- Delft, Netherlands
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Penn State University, USA
- Paris, France
- Melbourne, Australia
Over the last 20 years there has been a vast amount of international research co-operation generated by the OECD, European Commission COST projects and NAFTA activities in North America as well as Performance Based Standards (PBS) development in Australia. The IFRTT has played a role in publicizing and presenting the results from these international activities through its HVTT symposia and provides an on-going opportunity for the international networks developed in these projects to continue and flourish.
The primary goal of the symposia is to bring together the various disciplines of road transport to broaden knowledge and perspective.
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The Nordic Road Association (NVF) was founded on June 19, 1935 at a meeting in Stockholm attended by road engineers from the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The meeting took place in connection with the first Nordic Road Congress. In 1975, the Faroe Islands also became a member of NVF.
The idea behind Nordic co-operation within the road sector emanated from the international road congresses that had been organized by the PIARC (Permanent International Association of Road Congresses) since 1908.
Today, NVF works in co-operation with both PIARC (now renamed to World Road Association) as well as with many other international organizations in the field. The Baltic Road Association BRA is an example.