Economical maintenance of low volume roads - summary

Low-volume public refer in this study to those connecting and regional on which traffic volume is no more than 200 vehicles a day. Extremely low-volume refer to those connecting and regional on which traffic volume is no more than 50 vehicles a day. At the beginning of the year 2005 there are 34 420 km of low-volume roads, in other words 44% of all public and 5 923 km of extremely low-volume roads, in other words less than 8% of all public roads. About 9 000 km (26%) of the low-volume are paved with chip-sealing or soft asphalt concrete. Other have a gravel surface. Economical maintenance of low volume roads was a strategic research programme (S14) by Finnish Road Administration (Finnra). The main goals of the S14 research programme were to find environmentally sustainable, more efficient and economic solutions to the maintenance of low volume roads. Based on the studies and reports of the S14 research programme the most important recommendations are the following ones: 1) The low volume should be grouped according to their significance. The significance grouping will be used in the programming and planning of maintenance measures. 2) Repair and small improvements are generally more cost-effective than heavy rehabilitation or new construction. 3) Practical knowledge is used more extensively in the planning and execution of rehabilitation works of for example drainage structures and gravel weakened by spring thaw. 4) The acquisition procedures of maintenance and the contents of service agreements are developed to encourage contractors and planning consultants to use innovative solutions based on life cycle principles. The joint contracts of the maintenance with the municipalities are increased. 5) The policies on load restrictions of should be developed further by Finnra. 6) Evaluation of the pavements of low volume road condition should be based on longitudinal and transverse unevenness and on the entirely new parameter VSt, which is based on the service level experienced by road users. 7) The carrying capacity lacks of the bridges of low volume are removed. 8) Road sections with typical drainage problems are rehabilitated. Those gravel which in the long run have widened are narrowed to correspond to the needs of the traffic and the profile of the road surface is shaped to lead the surface water away. 9) All low volume with damaged pavements are not worth for repaving. It can be more economical to change them to with gravel surface. These considerations should be made with care. Usually it is economical to rehabilitate the damaged pavement if the traffic volume is more than 100 vehicles a day. 10) The Finnra should activate contractors to product development and innovation activities. The effects of the suggested measures have been evaluated.The cost-effectiveness of the maintenance of low volume can be improved distinctly. This report may be found at http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/julkaisut/pdf/3200987-v-s14-yhteenveto.pdf