Welcome address

Abstract

In accordance with the goals of ISSMGE – TOC (Technical Oversight Committee), the 2nd International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics intends to promote interaction between academicians, researchers and practitioners, facing the development of improved solutions that apply research findings in a practical manner. The organisation is under the auspices of the ISSMGE and carried out by the Hokkaido Branch and the TC 202 national committee of the Japanese Geotechnical Society in association with ISSMGE-TC 202. The interactions among ISSMGE-TC 202 and other overlapping TCs working in fields related to transportation geotechnics have been established by its liaisons with ISSMGE-TC 101 (Laboratory Stress Strength Testing of Geomaterials), ISSMGE-TC 106 (Unsaturated Soils) and ISSMGE-TC 216 (Frost Geotechnics) of the ISSMGE and also with the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS). Furthermore, the support of IGS, Geo-Institute of ASCE and Transportation Research Boarding for this Conference is also very much recognized and appreciated. All these participations enlarge the goals of this conference covering not only the themes of the ISSMGE-TC 202 task forces planned for 2009–2013, but also with significance the themes of asphalt mixtures and hydraulically bound materials, laboratory testing and in situ testing, applications of geosynthetics, sustainability of management and rehabilitation and risk assessment and environmental issues. Furthermore, more specific topics are covered by three workshops devoted to: (1) Intelligent Compaction, (2) Challenges in Transportation Geotechnics in Extreme Climates and (3) Geotechnical Challenges in Rail Track and its Transitional Zones.