EvoRoads: Mobility Solutions for Improving Safety Across Different Road User Groups

Status: Ongoing projects

The EvoRoads project focuses on improving road safety, with special attention to vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and e-scooter riders. Riga is one of six pilot cities in Europe where new data-driven solutions is being tested and developed to reduce traffic accidents and enhance infrastructure safety.

The Significance of the Project for Riga

The European Commission has set a goal to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries on European roads by 50% by 2030, moving towards the “Vision Zero” target—zero road fatalities. Achieving this requires innovative solutions that improve data collection, analyze risks, and modernize traffic infrastructure. EvoRoads will support Riga in enhancing road safety through targeted, data-driven improvements.

Target of the Project

To develop data-driven solutions for improving traffic safety, enabling better risk analysis and infrastructure adaptation to reduce the number of accidents, especially among vulnerable road user groups.

Benefits for Residents

✔ Safer mobility in the city, particularly for cyclists and e-scooter riders;
✔ Modernized traffic infrastructure based on data analysis;
✔ Long-term benefits from the technologies acquired through the project, which will remain the property of the City of Riga;
✔ Better information about road conditions and overall traffic safety.

Project Activities

✔ Development of a Safety Assessment System
A smart data system will be created to analyze road safety information. The system will automatically assess how safe roads are and provide data on key safety indicators. It will help identify areas that need improvements, such as additional traffic lights or speed limits.
✔ Monitoring Road Safety in Urban and Rural Areas
A unified digital platform will be developed to integrate various tools and information related to road safety. This system will help monitor road conditions, lighting, traffic flow, and other important factors. The goal is to ensure that both urban and rural roads are regularly inspected and improved.
✔ Creation of a Road Safety Management Platform
A dedicated safety management system will be developed to support authorities in making faster and more effective decisions on safety improvements. This platform will be based on the “Safe System” approach, which ensures that roads are designed to minimize serious consequences from human errors.
✔ Testing Solutions in Four European Cities
The new solutions will be tested in four different urban and rural areas to assess their performance under various conditions. Factors such as traffic intensity, road quality, and social context will be considered. This will help ensure the solutions are adaptable to a wide range of environments.
✔ Solution Development and Policy Recommendations
Recommendations will be prepared for national and local governments on how to implement these solutions to improve road safety. In addition, standards will be developed to support wider adoption of the solutions across Europe. The goal is to ensure that the best practices become part of everyday road safety management..

The project will monitor and assess the severity of defects in the city’s infrastructure. Special attention will be given to monitoring infrastructure used by micro-mobility vehicles (bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards), considering the increasing number of traffic accidents involving these users in Riga. Additionally, the project will focus on monitoring accident hotspots to analyze the relationship between accident severity, road user behavior, and infrastructure conditions as part of the new safety KPI analysis.

Use Cases

✔ AI-driven solutions and sensors for automated detection of infrastructure defects and damages;
✔ Low-cost solutions for monitoring and upgrading infrastructure, particularly for vulnerable road users (VRUs) and micro-mobility users;
✔ A Digital Twin of road infrastructure, integrated with a data-driven accident analysis and traffic monitoring system, enabling dynamic evaluation of multidimensional safety criteria.

Expected Project Outcomes

✔ Improved road safety solutions tailored to Riga’s needs;
✔ New technologies enabling more efficient data collection and analysis;
✔ Sustainable improvements that will remain the property of the city after the project concludes.

Funding, Duration and Partners

Funding source: Horizon Europe
Total Project Budget: EUR 4.9 million
Total budget for Riga:
EU Funding for Riga Municipality: EUR 96 750 (100%)
Co-financing by Riga Municipality: EUR 0

Implementation Period: 01.04.2024 – 30.04.2027

Project Partners: Spain, Italy, Romania, Latvia (Riga Municipality) – 20 partners in total

Contact Information

Jānis Sproģis
Head of Traffic Management Centre
Outdoor and Mobility Department
Riga Municipality
Email: janis.sprogis@riga.lv

Project Links

Riga will participate in an EU mobility project to improve traffic safety | Riga State City Municipality
Homepage – EvoRoads