Resumen
This research presents the ex-post evaluation results linked to the implementation of Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management (RISM) five years after its adoption. The Directive has led to the establishment of different procedures (Road Safety Impact Assessment, Road Safety Audits, Road Safety Inspections, Network Safety Management) in all Member States, thus increasing their use in comparison with the pre-Directive context. The ex-post evaluation seeks to gauge the degree to which the Directive has been put into practice across the EU countries and identify the main impacts generated by considering a range of evaluation criteria (Implementation, Relevance, Effectiveness, Sustainability, Coherence, Utility, Efficiency and EU added value). The outcomes from the evaluation confirm that Directive 2008/96/EC has encouraged a generalized use of RISM procedures which are now established in all Member States, are based on a minimal set of compulsory rules in the management of the TEN-T roads (in many cases also applied to non-TEN-T roads) and are implemented within a harmonized legislative framework. The main weakness of this Directive relates, conversely, to the limited scope of its application as it only applies to the TEN-T road network.