Anyone who has driven in any part of Finland knows that the condition of the roads is not always commendable. This is also evidenced by the road repair debt, which has grown from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion euros in ten years.

“In the big picture, the roads are in poor condition. Fortunately, the main roads have been kept in reasonably good condition. The higher the number of roads you go to, the worse the condition is,” says Nina Raitanen, leading expert at INFRA ry company.

There is no quick fix for the situation.

“When the water level increases and the weight of vehicles increases, there are many things that will weaken the situation in the future. In other words, it looks bleak.”

The same problem is also acknowledged by Anssi Kujala, CEO of the Finnish Transport and Logistics Association SKAL.

“It shows that something needs to be done now. It is no longer just about paving, but that our road network built in the 1970s and 1980s is in poor structural condition. If we do not prepare better for financing now, it will increase even more in the coming years.”

The practical effects of bad roads are also clear: breakdown of tires and suspensions, more fuel consumption and, consequently, more emissions.

“When a road is in poor condition, transportation costs rise. The costs are passed on to all levels of society in the form of increased prices and uncertainty in transportation schedules,” says Raitainen.

Sometimes there are weather conditions when no equipment is enough.

What about when winter comes, will winter surprise road maintainers?

In Finland, roads are divided into maintenance classes, which determine the order in which they are maintained. The maintenance classes divide the roads according to their traffic volume and importance. In practice, this means that main roads are plowed faster and more often than roads with less traffic.

“There are rarely situations where the amount of snow prevents movement. The most dangerous situations are caused by slippery conditions, when the road has not been sanded or salted and is not suitable for traffic,” says Kujala.

However, Kujala reminds us that sometimes there are weather conditions in Finland when no equipment is enough, no matter what the maintenance classes say.

“In those cases, everyone should understand that it is not necessarily worth moving unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Source: MTV uutiset (in Finnish)