The Ministry of Transport and Logistics continues its efforts throughout the year to enhance the road quality index in the Kingdom, as part of its objectives to enhance the quality of life and improve the services provided, to achieve the sixth place globally in road quality through the efforts of the transport and logistics system in providing reliable transportation and high-level safety and quality. The ministry is also working to enhance the integration of transportation patterns and boost the index of road quality in the Kingdom, which extends to nearly 75,000 km to improve the services in various cities, regions and governorates, thus contributing to bridging the long distances between the outskirts of the country, facilitating commercial and economic movements and attracting tourists, visitors, and pilgrims to the Two Holy Mosques. Over the past years, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics has made remarkable leaps in the road quality index. In 2016, the Kingdom ranked 37th globally in the Road Quality Index, advancing later in 2018 to 30th globally. With the ministry's continuing efforts to improve road quality and the services provided, the Kingdom continued to progress, as it ranked 26th in the world in 2019, according to a report issued by the World Competitiveness Forum. However, the ministry aims to reach sixth place in the road quality index by 2030. The ministry continues to work periodically on the implementation of safety and maintenance works on the roads, through the application of land surveying, refining and leveling work on the shoulders of roads, the implementation of asphalt works, the implementation of construction and gravel foundation layers, placing all kinds of road barriers and partitions (concrete - rotational - cylindrical), and improving intersections and installing solar lighting, installation of warning and road signs on roadsides, applying paints, installing cat-eye units, cleaning sewage drainage sites, removing sand accumulations, and backfilling rain eruption sites. The ministry recycles the piles of pavement milling, in addition to examining and measuring the structural strength of the paving layers, measuring road tracks to ensure meeting the global ruggedness standard, conducting a geographical survey of longitudinal paths, and a geographical survey of reference points. In March 2022, the ministry implemented a five-day campaign "Towards Distinguished and Safe Roads" for the second year in a row, to survey all road networks in the Kingdom, which contributes to raising the levels of quality and safety. The campaign resulted in 11,170 observations, including 2,611 observations for maintenance, 6,814 for safety and 1,745 remarks for night examination. The ministry has recently succeeded in concerted efforts with several public sectors in launching the "Saudi Road Code" project, which aims to prepare a road code for the Kingdom, and set up a mechanism to activate it as a technical reference for the authorities responsible for roads at all levels, which contributes to achieving minimum levels of quality and safety, economic efficiency, environment and sustainability.
