TEHRAN- The Director General of the Office for Sign Maintenance, Equipment, and Road Safety Development of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization announced that in line with the implementation of the Seventh National Development Plan and following studies conducted in the first year of the plan, with the aim of adopting a preventive approach, improving the safety of 8,000 kilometers of the country's arterial roads is being carried out between 2025 and 2028.

According to IRNA, Mohammad Rashed Modarres Gorji reported that the target of improving safety on 2,000 kilometers of arterial roads has been 100% achieved in 2025, with another 2,000 kilometers targeted by the end of this year.

Referring to the target of improving safety on 2,000 kilometers of main road arteries in 2026, he stated that preventive measures such as organizing and securing access points and intersections, installing barriers, providing clear zones, and implementing slope embankments are being carried out to enhance roadside safety and reduce accidents.

The Director General added that installing median barriers on unprotected routes, creating rumble strips, and installing cat's eyes to improve median safety on two-way roads and prevent head-on collisions are among other safety measures on the country's road arteries.

Modarres Gorji continued that by organizing intersections, correcting curves, and increasing driver sight distance, safety measures are being implemented with a preventive approach to traffic accidents.

He also cited securing travel on roads adjacent to schools as another preventive approach, stating that in this regard, by making areas conspicuous through speed bumps, signs, and road markings, measures are taken to reduce speed and improve travel safety in these sections.

The official further stated that widening and increasing road capacity on certain sections of the country's arterial routes is another safety approach under the Seventh Development Plan. In this context, last year, with 220% achievement of the annual target, widening and lane expansion operations were carried out on 480 kilometers of roads.

Modarres Gorji noted that in line with the organization's policy to increase the productivity of road maintenance machinery and implement certain construction projects through in-house forces, many of the aforementioned preventive measures to increase the road safety coefficient are being executed by in-house resources.

EF/MA