Since injured pedestrians due to falling contributes to high costs for society, therefore the attribute requirements on a road surface is of great importance for safety. The requirements shall be appropriate for all who are on the surface, this applies to both vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. This report summarises recent accident studies and the prevailing rules regarding the construction of spaces for pedestrians.

In addition to these compilations an analysis is done of how common it is that people fall due to, for example, uneven surfaces, kerb-stones or stumble. In 38 percent of the reported accidents that occurred between 2008 and 2015 (82,559), the victims said that the accident happened on a footpath/pavement. To give a good picture of how many accidents that may occur due to surface and paving was 4,443 accidents filtered out, and all the descriptions were read and divided into 12 various categories. The most common reason to a person being injured, according to themselves, was unevenness, holes and pits, level differences or related to the stone/tile surface. The social-economic cost for these 4,443 accidents was in average 845 thousand SEK.

Road stretch forecasting is a method for forecasting the weather situations or road conditions, especially slipperiness. This project has been a start on implementing the road stretch forecasting technique on Swedish roads. Road stretch forecasting is already implemented in several parts of the world including Norway and the Czech Republic and is a method for forecasting the weather situations or road conditions on the stretches between the existing Road Weather Information System outstations (RWIS). RWIS outstations are located all over Sweden and mainly in places where there is a high probability of slipperiness. But if the area around the station is changed, for example modifications of the vegetation, the conditions can be changed compared to the original mapping of the road. This leads to a high probability for extreme points in road stretches in between the RWIS outstations. To make a model that describes the road, it is necessary to make a thermal mapping and an analysis of the topoclimate to know the variations in temperature, altitude, shading etcetera, along the road. Then the road is divided into segments representing the different variations of the road. The model calculates the forecast for the road surface temperatures and road conditions, the modelled values are compared and adjusted with the measured temperatures from the thermal mapping. In conclusion, the results regarding this road stretch along E6 show good congruence between the modelled values and the measured temperatures.

One important question in winter road maintenance is: How can we make winter road maintenance more energy efficient? There are several factors that can affect how, when and where the winter road maintenance is performed.

A RWIS outstation (Road Weather Information System) measures the road weather on the road and close to the road, it measures many parameters, such as road surface temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation type and amount, wind speed and direction. Measured parameters together with weather forecasts make it possible to determine when and where the action is needed. Thereafter it is time to make a route planning to ensure that the correct action is done on the right place at the right time, and with the best suited equipment for the winter road maintenance.

Spreading of salt/sand could be more efficient by using different computer programs that calculate the needed amount. Also the location of the salt/sand storage affects the driving distances i.e. the fuel consumption.

One of the factors that account for the greatest uncertainty in terms of winter road maintenance is the weather. An area that has a need for more research is how future climate changes will affect the winter maintenance.

The project “Winter Model” started at the beginning of the 2000s. The idea was to try and predict consequences of different winter maintenance strategies so that socio-economic costs could be calculated. Using the Winter Model programme, developed during the project, it is now possible to calculate and validate the impact of different winter maintenance measures have on road users, road authorities and local communities. This report contains results of the first complete Winter Model calculations using existing conditions. The report also contains an account of further developments made in connection with this study within the Winter Model. In order to determine what effect changes to road classification standards have on socio-economic costs, the report includes seven comparisons of different application runs. Road classification standards determine how much snow should fall before an action is initiated and/or how long it should take until the action is completed.

The Winter Model has been developed within a project called The Winter Model. The aim of the project, which started in the early 2000s, was to assess social and economic consequences of different winter maintenance strategies for road users, road authorities and local communities. The aim of this study was to calculate the change in fuel consumption when the winter maintenance classification standard is lowered on the road i.e. response times and start criterion is increased. Within this project, the fuel consumption model was refined and can now take into account how fuel consumption is affected by the amount of water or snow in the ruts on the road. During the project, six scenario runs were carried out for a 100 km long road section located in Sweden’s central climatic zone. Weather data was obtained from the winter season 2006–2007. Winter maintenance classification standards, and traffic flow volumes were varied during the scenario runs. In one scenario run, the winter maintenance classification standard was lowered from Standard Class 1 to Standard Class 2. This increased the allowable time to carry out the maintenance action from 2 hours to 3 hours – applicable to a Standard Class 1 road, salted, and with a traffic volume of 16,000 vehicles. Comparisons indicate a 1,100 litre reduction in total fuel consumption and maintenance costs was reduced by 5%.

The project “Winter Model” started at the beginning of the 2000s. The idea was to try and predict the consequences of different winter maintenance strategies and to calculate the associated socio-economic costs. It is now possible to calculate and validate the impact that different winter maintenance measures have on road users, road authorities and local communities.

This paper contains results of the first complete Winter Model calculations using existing conditions. Comparisons with different road classification standards have been carried out in order to determine the effect they have on socio-economic costs. Road classification standards dictate how much snow should fall before a maintenance action is initiated and how long it should take until the action is completed. Socio-economic costs increased for all comparisons when reductions in the classification standard were applied. As an example of how costs can vary: the scenario is a salted road using a combined plough and salt spreader where the allowed time to complete the action is 4 h that is changed to an unsalted road with an allowed time to complete the action of 5 h. Both scenarios have an action start criteria of 2 cm deep snow, and an annual average daily traffic flow of 2000.

Comparison results show that the change from salted to unsalted road saves the most cost due to a reduction in salt use and required actions. However, the increased time to complete the action will result in slightly longer travel times and accident costs will increase by 24.2%. The extended action hour affect fuel consumption in a positive way, for example, consumption decreases slightly due to driving more often at lower speeds on unclear roads. By lowering the road classification standard like in this example, total socio-economic costs increased by 3.5%.

The project “Winter Model” started at the beginning of the 2000s. The idea was to try and predict the consequences of different winter maintenance strategies and to calculate the associated socio-economic costs. It is now possible to calculate and validate the impact that different winter maintenance measures have on road users, road authorities and local communities. This paper contains results of the first complete Winter Model calculations using existing conditions. Comparisons with different road classification standards have been carried out in order to determine the effect they have on socio-economic costs. Road classification standards dictate how much snow should fall before a maintenance action is initiated and how long it should take until the action is completed. Socio-economic costs increased for all comparisons when reductions in the classification standard were applied. Accident costs consistently accounted for the largest cost increases in all of the comparisons. Current climate change impact scenarios for northern Europe predict an increase in temperature and precipitation, especially during the winter seasons. Some attempts have been made to use the Winter Model for comparisons between different winters, for example variations in weather patterns. These attempts tried to calculate winter maintenance and socio-economic costs for future winter seasons.

This report is a compilation of the work done of recalculating the relations/connections for accident risks and their distribution on different winter road conditions in different climate zones. These accident risks are based on accidents having occurred between the years 2007 and 2017. In this project, an update of the accident assessments has been made according to ASEK 6.1 (analysis method and socioeconomic calculation values for the transport sector) Due to this change, the Swedish Transport Administration has changed the valuation of road traffic accidents with accident consequences according to Strada (Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition), instead of consequences as reported by police reports. The new update of the Accident Model has updated accident risks, accident distributions and accident consequences and seems to be realistic and the program is working in a correct way.

Barrier separated roads and “2+1” type barrier separated roads have become more common as they have been proven to be safer than the conventional two-lane roads. Accident statistics show that there are fewer serious accidents. However, there are few studies on how winter road maintenance affects accessibility, accidents and environmental effects (energy consumption/emissions) when a barrier separated road is compared with the conventional two-way road. The Winter model has been developed by VTI for the Swedish Transport Administration over the past 20 years. It is built with sub-models and effect relationship for a two-lane road. Therefore, further development begun to include a 2+1-road to use the model on the entire state road network. Since only a few studies are made of traffic flows and speed measurements in separated lanes, relatively uncertain assumptions underlie the changes in road conditions on a 2+1-road in the model. It is important to be able to model changes of road conditions as close to reality as possible, in order to get the model as realistic as possible for calculating how changes in winter road conditions can affect the socio-economic costs during a winter season. A lane on a 2+1-road is usually narrower than the lane on the conventional road. It has been found in this study that in wintertime the drivers do not have the same driving pattern as on a bare road. As an example, during a snowfall on a road with standard class 1–3, the contractor should plough the road when 1 cm of snow has fallen. Then they have 2–4 hours to plough the route and when it has stopped snowing, the road should be snow- and ice-free within 2–4 hours if it is not colder than -6°C. This means that if there is enough snow to cover the road, the vehicles automatically appear to drive slightly further to the left in the right lane, probably not to risk getting into the ditch. It also leads to fewer overtakings. This may be due to a combination of the fact that most drivers are further to the left, making lane two narrower and when there are fewer vehicles in the left lane there is uncertainty about the road surface conditions and very few vehicles make an overtaking. This, in turn, means that the Winter model cannot really handle the roadway in the left lane as there are not enough road condition studies of snow depth. This project has contributed to more knowledge and some adjustments have been made that make the model more reliable. However, further studies on distribution, speed and lane placement of vehicles in various lanes during and after a snowfall are required.

VTI has developed a model called the Winter Model, a strategic tool to make calculations for the winter road maintenance during the whole winter season and how this affects the societies costs. This report contains a summary of other models used in this area. The report mostly contains brief explanations of some of the existing tactical decision support systems. No strategic models which is used as tools for follow-up on consequences depending on actions taken on the road, level of winter service, and on how a different winter seasons climate affects the economics, could be found. Most countries have developed their own tactical decision support system. These systems are in many cases very similar, and they are generally used for the decision of the best maintenance activity to perform. The model that reminds the most of the Swedish Winter Model is the American MDSS-model, which has approximately the same incoming data. The largest difference is that it is more used in the daily activities and not as a tool to make calculations for the winter road maintenance during the whole winter season and how this in turn affects the societies costs.

The global climate change is a reality and affecting society and transport systems. Climate change adaptation of transport systems will make the means of transportation more resilient and decrease the risk and magnitude of disruptions. Generally, climate change adaptations in road construction, operation and maintenance will need relatively large changes, but there is a shortage of the specific knowledge required as to what steps need to be taken, when and where, before measures can actually be implemented. Since climate change effects vary among Sweden's climatic zones, the impact of climate change on the road behavior and longevity is extremely difficult to predict. The need for winter maintenance in Sweden will generally decrease due to the warmer climate. Ploughing frequency will probably decrease as well, but preparedness should not be reduced too much since occasions with more extreme instances will increase. In order to succeed in making the road transport system resilient to climate change, we conclude that there is a need to develop more knowledge about the impact on the road infrastructure system as well as the operation and maintenance of the system including how to adapt through different types of variable and flexible climate adaptation measures and the effects of extreme weather events.

In a changing climate with greater demands on road managers and winter operation contractors to achieve a winter operating standard acceptable to road users while at the same time the financial resources become increasingly limited, the need for cost-effective methods increases. A forecast-driven dynamic road operation has been shown to lead to increased productivity as road condition forecasts are integrated with route optimisation. 

One way to further develop road conditions forecasts is to know how much salt is needed on the road, or more precisely, how much residual salt is still there? If there already is salt on the road, then is there no need to spread the full amount, it might be enough with half or even less. 

Residual salt measurements have been made during three winter seasons at Testsite E18. The site was chosen because it is equipped with several different sensors, mounted above, next to and in the road. Salt was measured every 30 cm across the road's two lanes. Of 9 measurements, there were only 5 occasions with salt, of which two of them were salted only for our measurements. There were three measurements left with winter conditions. All measurements were compared with sensors on the site to compare how well a sensor represents the road surface. It turned out that there were generally very low salt values from the sensors compared with manual measurements.

The future needs for winter maintenance will probably be influenced by the climate change in different ways in different parts of the world. As Sweden is a country with several climate zones, the influence of climate change on winter maintenance will therefore differ between regions within the country. To understand the influence of climate change on the future needs of salt consumption in winter maintenance, modeled road weather data were calculated in the IRWIN project (a joint research project through ERA-NET ROAD funded by the 6th Framework Program of the European Commission), where climate change scenarios from ECHAM5 (the fifth generation of the European Centre Hamburg Model general circulation model from the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology) were combined with field data from the road weather information system in Sweden.

These modeled road weather data were used in project KLIVIN (the study presented here) in three Swedish regions (Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Sundsvall) and was combined with the Swedish winter severity index in order to calculate the trends of future salt needs. In this study the needs of salt for each of the three investigated regions were calculated in 30-year periods between 1970 and 2100. The results show that salt use related to snowfall will decrease in all three regions, while the salt use related to temperature will increase in the northernmost region (Sundsvall) and show a small decrease in the two other regions (Gothenburg and Stockholm).

Unpredictable weather, short time frames and requirements of high quality can make a challenge of the winter road maintenance. The pressure on both operating staff and machine drivers is very high during periods. The road climate can vary greatly within one and the same operating area and there is a need to adjust for these variations to maximise efficiency.

The project "Dynamic Forecast Controlled Winter Road Maintenance" has been aimed at developing a solution to simplify the handling of data flows from road weather forecasts and simplify decisions for the winter maintenance contractor what actions are needed and where they are needed. This has been done with data from road weather forecast services together with the existing road network in the operating area, the actions have been optimized for the available numbers of vehicles to create dynamic actions for a more productive and sustainable winter road maintenance.

Two phases of the project have now been completed and the purpose and goal of streamlining operations through interconnected data flows has been achieved. In connection with this, a dynamic forecasting route optimisation product has also been developed. The project showed that using a dynamic forecasting route optimisation, is it possible to carry out the full potential of the decision support systems through automation. The potential of using forecast-based winter road maintenance is great, both for the customers and for the individual operating contractor. The contractor benefits from it in the operational work, improves the working environment and reduces costs. However, environmental impact also decreases, and in the long term, it also reduces the social economic costs of road maintenance. It is important to emphasise that the technology enables the safety factor on the road to not be reduced despite savings of salt and action times.

Current winter maintenance costs are approximately 2 billion SEK per annum, but good monitoring tools to ensure that this money is distributed and used effectively are lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop a basis for new regulations for when action is required to maintain good winter road standards and how payment to the entrepreneurs should be regulated to provide a more efficient winter road maintenance. The Swedish Road Weather Information System (RWIS) was introduced as an aid for winter road maintenance in the late 1970s. The service expanded during the next two decades and today comprises of around 800 stations situated around the Swedish state road network. Measurements include air and road surface temperature, wind direction and speed, and precipitation type and amount. Many of the stations are also equipped with cameras that can be used to assess road surface conditions. Together with weather forecasts, information from RWIS stations is used as the main basis for decision making regarding the need for winter road maintenance. The first step in system improvement is to fully understand how the current system operates. This report summarises the broad outlines of how reporting, regulatory frameworks, and reimbursement models work for winter road maintenance. There are a number of relatively new techniques that could be used to optimise winter road maintenance. These new techniques could help produce a more efficient winter road maintenance programme that reduces the cost to society. The technological developments have moved forward in recent years in a number of areas such as the motor vehicle industry and also in non-contact sensors for measuring friction and road surface temperature. This technology can be used in conjunction with RWIS to give a clear indication of when and where maintenance action is required. This could also provide an opportunity to design a decision support system that could assist road maintenance contractors.

In the Nordic countries, winter road maintenance is important to deliver a safe and reliable road system. This also means that winter road maintenance has a relatively large share of the operating and maintenance budget for the Nordic countries. The developing projects in winter maintenance are therefore aimed both to deliver a high quality of winter service to the customersand that it is carried out in the most cost-effective way possible

The Nordic countries have ongoing projects through the managing process;plan, steering, follow up, inform, and describe the winter road maintenance. Development projects are also underway regarding the equipment for winter road maintenance, material properties and new methods for implementation to becomemore efficient and contribute to a lower environmental impact. Digitalisation offers new opportunities to work more systematically with the different parts of winter road maintenance from planning and control to follow-up. The Nordic countries have started projects to meet the new opportunities with digitalisation and to ensure that there is a high level of expertise in the profession.

In Denmark, a further development of VINTERMAN, a system for controlling and monitoring winter road maintenance, is in progress. It is a system that is based on all aspects of winter road maintenance to systematically structure and work effectively. For example, Denmark has a number of projects that aim to increase the quality and efficiency of salting, among other things, a project is in progress that aims to adapt the spread and dosage according to forecasts from VINTERMANvia GPS.

Finlanduses a winter road monitoring system called HARJA. It was introduced in 2018 and there is some development in Finland to improve the system. Finland also has development projects to implement a new contracting model, where the starting point is an increased collaboration between the client and the contractor. Pilot studies have shown good results, especially when it comes to the ability to solve emergency situations in a good way. Finland has also implemented new quality levels in winter operations, with particular focus on the needs of business and in particular for heavy transport.

Icelandhas winter road maintenance in its own operation on the state roads and does not really have the same needs as the other Nordic countries when it comes to developing control and follow-up systems. They develop a new platform for the management that aims to improve quality and streamline work. The goal is to increase internal efficiency and to contribute to increased reliability and safety, which contributes to increased user benefit.

In Norway, projects are also underway aimed at streamlining control, suchas ELRAPP and VEGVÆR (road weather), where both aim to contribute to more efficient information gathering for decision-making at various stages in the control process. ELRAPP aims to contribute to efficiency improvements for both the Public Roads Administration(Statens Vegvesen)and the Entrepreneur. It is a digital system that handles everything from control to delivery follow-up. Development projects are currently underway to improve and further develop the system. VEGVÆRis also under development, which is a system for managing weather information and creating road conditionforecasts.

In Sweden, DIGITAL VINTER (digital winter)is being developed, which aims to build up a system support for decision makers. It is about creating the conditions for takingthe correct winter maintenance actionsin a timely manner in order to maintain safe, reliableand accessible roads. DIGITAL VINTERalso aims to be a good tool for monitoring that the customers get the expected service level at the road network.An ongoingproject is to implement a subset of the results from the project DIGITAL VINTERVÄGLAGSINFORMATION (Digital information about winter road conditions). It is expected to contribute to a better delivery follow-up and thus a more even quality of winter road maintenance.

Development of new equipment and new methods for carrying out winter road maintenance is ongoing. Within this development, the trend to implement the measuresin as environmentally as possible is increasingly important, which many of the ongoing projects contribute. There will also be a growing need to develop equipment and methods for winter operation of cycle paths. For example, the R&D program BEVEGELE focuses on developing this part to make walking and cycling a more attractive choice for road users.

Avsikten med att ta fram rapporten är att erbjuda en överblick över de utvecklingsprojekt som bedrivs i de nordiska länderna. Det bidrar till bättre koordinering av utvecklingsprojekt och ger ett bra underlag för initiativ till nya projekt som driver utvecklingen framåt. Syftet är även att bidra till att dela erfarenheter mellan länder och därmed bidra till en utveckling av vinterväghållningen i Norden. Statusrapporten innehåller även ett tematiskt avsnitt där några av länderna belyser viktiga nationella projekt.

The winter maintenance of the road network is an important activity for the road administrations in the Nordic countries. The road administrations put a lot of resources to winter maintenance each year to be able to maintain a high level of service at the road networks. The projects that are running aims to both improve the quality of the winter services and also to increase the efficiency of the winter maintenance activities. 

The restructuring process and the use of contractors for maintenance in the Nordic countries requires changes in the operational management system. Important research areas are methods and strategies to report and reach specific quality standards. There are executed a better basis on decision-making models, i.e. how to take the right steps at the right time. For example, Finland are implementing a new model with contractors with a more integrated dialog with the contractors to respond better and faster at critical circumstances. 

Attempts are being made on improving the management system through new technology and to simplify and modernize the contract system. This requires better description of the tasks and check procedures. The maintenance system VINTERMAN in Denmark is under continuous development. In connection with this project, they are now working with a system linked to GPS-guided salting tied to forecasts for weather and road conditions. Also, in Sweden and Norway there are made attempt with GPS-controlled salting and systems that can regulate the amount of salt automatically depending on weather and road conditions. 

Systems, which through cameras and/or sensors can provide information about weather, road surface condition and friction, are constantly being tested and developed. Further research on weather forecast and weather registration is making progress in most of the countries, example of projects in Norway are ELRAPP and Vägväder. The countries are also starting projects that are trying to support the decision process for supervisors, by giving information related to current and future road conditions. Several countries are also working to integrate the monitoring of correct quality of winter service within their different winter systems. 

In Denmark, different methods are tested to document the salt distribution on the road surface. Development of ploughs and snow-clearing equipment takes place continuously in the Nordic countries. There is also effort made to find possible use of IT and digitalization in the winter maintenance. The Nordic countries are working for against the goal to maintain a high competence both in research for the future and for the individuals who are working with winter maintenance directly. Many of Nordic countries are starting projects that focus more on the needs of pedestrians and cyclists in relation to safe and comfort travel in winter conditions.

This report is INFRACOMS first deliverable D1.1. It addresses the “Understanding of information needs and gaps” component of the project. The aim has been to identify the current priorities and future needs of NRAs for the management of carriageway and bridge assets, specifically in terms of their approach to data collection and monitoring. The approach has been to establish existing knowledge via a review of previous projects, current best practices and standards in data collection and inspection, and a review of current business processes, NRA strategies around data collection and digitalisation etc. The report identifies a set of key imperatives for carriageway and bridge assets covering Availability, Reliability, Environment, Economy and Safety. Each of these is supported by the collection of key condition data, which is used to report technical parameters and performance indicators that can be combined to assess the ability of the asset to meet its key imperatives. A wide range of technologies are identified, which are currently applied to collect the data that supports this assessment.

The consultation shows that there are also gaps between the desired and the current capability for the assessment of these assets. These include gaps in the data, challenges in the ability to collect the data, gaps in the application of the data that is already collected etc. A review of emerging technologies shows that there are tools and technologies that could help to fill these gaps. These could overcome the limitations of current technologies, better integrate new data sources, provide greater flexibility in using current and new data, and provide better analysis. They include remote sensing, Internet of Things (IoT), crowdsourcing, and advanced data processing/visualisation.

This report represents INFRACOMS deliverable D2.1 Appraisal Methodology. It builds upon the deliverables of INFRACOMS Work Package 1 which identified the information needs, gaps and priorities of NRAs in terms of their approach to data collection and monitoring, and a list of current and emerging measurement technologies. This report includes a review of several commonly-used appraisal methodologies that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness, suitability and potential impact of new technologies for an organisation. These methodologies include Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), Risk Assessment, and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). Elements of these commonly used methodologies are included in the INFRACOMS Appraisal Methodology. The report also includes key highlights from a workshop with NRAs conducted in January 2023 which also fed into the design of the appraisal methodology. The INFRACOMS Appraisal Methodology described here is designed around the technology use case, that is, a particular application of a technology by a NRA. It incorporates three core processes for Pre-Evaluation, Evaluation and Case Studies of technology use cases. It also includes processes for NRAs to define their strategic and technical priorities so that the appraisal process can be tailored to addressing their individual requirements, as identified from Work Package 1.

Effective analysis and visualisation of data is critical for the efficient application of the data provided by carriageway and bridge condition monitoring technologies. It supports better decisions in relation to asset reliability, availability, safety, economy and environment. This report discusses the link between the data provided by monitoring technologies on the properties of assets and how the collected data can be analysed and visualised to provide value in decision support. The next step in the report is to use this understanding to develop an appraisal system which could enable technologies in the INFRACOMS technology database to be appraised (scored) in relation to their abilities for data analysis, visualisation, integration and use in decision support.

The presented system is referred to as the D3.1 scoring system. It consists of four components covering data visualisation, data analysis, integration within current data architectures and potential for practical decision-making. The present D3.1 report primarily examines the components pertaining to data visualisation and data analysis, while the exploration of the other two components, data architecture and decision support, will be carried out in the D3.2 report. It is proposed that the D3.1 scoring system could be used to appraise the capability of monitoring technologies to support asset management decisions, and would become an integral component of the INFRACOMS Appraisal Toolkit. It will also be used to further filter the current INFRACOMS Technology Database 2.0 technologies as part of the Appraisal Toolkit as INFRACOMS completes the development of the toolkit/database within WP2.

Road friction is probably the characteristic of the road that has the greatest importance for traffic safety. When a new surface is laid, road users are normally warned by the warning sign A10 “Warning for slippery road”, with additional sign T22, “On wet road surface”, The signage is carried out as a safety measure. 

The main purpose of this project has been to verify the results from the first study, to know how the friction changes after the introduction of traffic on a newly asphalted road. The ambition was to be able to determine whether a newly laid road section have reduced friction in order to be able to give recommendations on how signage to road users should take place in connection with and after a new pavement layer and at new constructions. 

In this complementary study, friction and macrotexture were measured on roads with different newly laid pavements from shortly before traffic opening until the macrotexture and friction levels had stabilised. The three coatings studied were Stone mastic asphalt (SMA), Dense asphalt concrete (DAC) and Chipseal. One of the objects was studied in more detail through repeated castings and photography of a specific control surface to try to determine how the road surface changes over time. 

This study confirms much of what emerged in the previous study. A new pavement has the highest friction in connection with the release of traffic. The friction then decreases over the next few weeks before starting to increase again to stabilise after about five weeks. This was the case for two of the pavement types (SMA and DAC). The road stretch with Chipseal was already stable after three weeks. The normal time for macrotexture levels to stabilise was between four and five weeks. There was some variation between the different pavement types. It was also found that there can be differences in friction between a conventional pavement and a remixed pavement.

An important factor in the inventory of the road network condition is to be able to geographically position the measurement data at the right place with sufficient accuracy.

In March 2012, the correction service EPOS, used to provide an improved positioning, was shut down. By the commission of the Swedish Transport Administration, VTI has evaluated whether the free correction service EGNOS, operated by ESA, is possible to be used instead. The answer is yes. No systematic differences in the position data could be observed when using the old and the new correction service.

A new pavement should be and be perceived as safe by road users, regardless of the road condition. It is therefore important that the road has a satisfactory level of friction already when the road is opened. There is limited documented knowledge of how the road change in the beginning after a paving performance.

The purpose of this project is to determine how friction changes during the first period after road pavement is laid and traffic is permitted. The ambition is to determine if new road sections have reduced friction and provide recommendations for when a friction measurement is to be performed, and how warning signs should be displayed in connection with the pavement work. The study plan has been to follow different objects with frequent friction and texture measurements from just before the stretch is opened for traffic until the levels have stabilised.

Initially, friction is high, and then decreases with the amount of traffic. After 1-3 weeks the lowest value was reached and then the friction increased or stabilized. Common to all investigated stretches, there are major changes in texture levels from the first vehicle and then a decreasing textural level until a stable level is reached after 1-3 weeks.

What can be stated in this project is how a winter road is experienced when compared to snow free conditions, primarily with regard to unevenness and noise. Surveys carried out during the project show that it is possible, without too much difficulty, to measure the unevenness of a snow covered road surface. I this report is winter road defined as a snow covered road (around one day after heavy snowfall). Based on survey results, the study shows that the unevenness of section lengths between 0.05 metres and 1.0 metres are most affected by winter road conditions. Unevenness during winter road conditions is approximately five times greater than that experienced during snow free conditions. However, it is impossible to generalise for an entire road network as surface conditions during winter can be extremely variable. It is also possible to see that the surface structure described by the shortest wavelengths investigated, less than 10 millimetres, is smoother on the snow-covered surface. This is one hypothesis and indicates that measurements are reliable. The link between noise and unevenness is related to vehicle speed. The biggest sound difference between winter and summer road conditions, which could be related to the road surface measurements, was at the lower frequency range. Perceived in-car noise levels were between 3 and 6 decibel higher during winter conditions. However, for the higher frequency range the difference in noise levels was opposite - lower levels during winter conditions. A possible explanation for this is that sound may be absorbed by the snow.

The task of the winter maintenance operations is to ensure that the roads are accessible and safe to use. In practice, by means of ploughing, sand and salt spreading, keeping the roads free of snow and ice in accordance with the current requirements. Experience in operational winter management is a shortcoming, which is partly due to the more flexible labour market with short contract periods, but also due to the major retirements that have been in recent years. In order for the winter maintenance contractor to maintain and at the same time increase the productivity, it is essential to develop decision support systems.

There are today several road weather forecast services that can provide qualified support to decisionmakers in winter road maintenance. As a basis, current weather information from the Swedish RWIS-outstations (Road Weather Information System), which is deployed along the state roads, is used. Some services also use data from sensors in cars. The services provide dynamic road conditions forecasts and in some cases even proposals for actions needed for different road sections. They deliver detailed decision-making prognosis that enable high quality decisions for the correct action in the right time at the right place. Perhaps the main advantage of the forecasts is that they clearly show that only parts of the road network need to be addressed and that the surface temperature forecast, in addition to the forecast of the road surface condition, is important input for determining the needed amount of salt.

Today’s route optimisation program performs optimisations for the shortest time based on the road owner's road classification, that is based on annual average daily traffic. However, road climate may vary considerably within an operating area, and the need to adjust for these variations in order to achieve an increased resource efficiency, can currently only be corrected manually for resource planning, and usually before the winter season starts.

The purpose of the project is to provide a more dynamic information to create a more productive winter road maintenance with dynamic road conditions information. Integrating data from a road weather forecast service into existing systems, such as a route guidance driver system, would allow the workforce to work significantly more detailed and dynamically, allowing for significant efficiency gains. In the project, an evaluation of a weather service has also been made with regards to which forecast window is suitable to use in the optimization. The project in this first phase can be described as a first attempt to make the systems working together, validate that it is feasible and that results will be reliable routes for the decisionmakers in winter road maintenance.

The project has shown that a dynamic forecasting route optimisation for preventative salting can improve the environment by reducing emissions from lorries due to shorter driving distances and reduction of salt usage. The work environment for the maintenance vehicle drivers is enhanced by a higher degree of automation, which means it is less to keep track of, resulting in reduced stress at high performance requirements. Better quality in the winter road maintenance also benefits accessibility for the road users.

The Swedish Transport Administration want to describe the friction condition of the entire national road network. A nationwide friction measurement is practically difficult to manage and very costly, while we are already measuring road surface macrotexture. In this project, we test whether the macro texture (MPD, Mean Profile Depth) can be used to describe the friction condition of the road network. We have not been able to show this correlation but we present other interesting findings that give a piece of the puzzle for the Swedish Transport Administration how they can and should deal with the friction issue. We see, among other things, that the risk of low friction is greater on road sections with low MPD values and especially on roads with surface dressing that has bleeding patches. Furthermore, we describe the friction risks involved with different coatings and how these might be handled.

Snow removal and anti-slip measures on roads are necessary to maintain road safety and a free-flowing transportation system. This is also interesting from an energy perspective as a free-flowing transportation system will use less energy than a congested one. These road maintenance measures focus, however, only on safety and not on energy use at all. This study will try to quantify the need for winter road maintenance in terms of energy in order to determine when, from an energy perspective, it would be best to remove snow or apply anti-icing agents. To explore this, parts of the VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) winter model were used. Several scenarios were set in different areas in Sweden in order to investigate a geographical divergence. It is possible to reduce 10.7% of traffic energy use if the starting criterion for snow removal is changed from 1 cm to 2 cm before action needs to be taken. If the speed limit is also reduced from 90 km/h to 70 km/h, the saving could be up to 17.2%. This paper aims to focus on the energy perspective of the winter maintenance operations in Sweden as well as on proposing other aspects of use for the model.

The ongoing digitalization of the transport system, including automated vehicles, entails a paradigm shift. The development of vehicles with advanced driver support, automated functions, and self[1]driving vehicles is now an obvious use in the transport system. Thanks to the introduction of new sensors in the vehicles and connectivity, there is a complement that allows automation functions that can support the human driver with the driving task in all or parts of the journey. On the other hand, it should be clear that today's transport system and infrastructure have been designed to maneuver vehicles with the help of human drivers and their associated limitations and capabilities. 

The project aims, from a road maintenance perspective with a focus on the state road network, to describe the current state of knowledge regarding existing and possible adaptations of the digital and physical infrastructure to provide support for vehicles with automated functions. The project also aims at long-term knowledge building. 

Data has been collected via literature studies and, above all, obtained from studies of ongoing and executed relevant projects, both national and international. Furthermore, much knowledge has been gathered through the authors' networks and their participation in relevant international and national groups. A workshop with relevant commercial actors has also been conducted within the project.

To appraise the ability to integrate the data provided by a specific technology into an existing data architecture this report commences with the development of an approach to describe the "ideal" data architecture, that can integrate various types of data from new and emerging technologies to facilitate decision making. The data architecture forms a pipeline from raw data creation/delivery to data ingestion, data organization, data analysis and visualisation, until information that is useful for decision making. We then review two existing data architectures as examples in the context of the proposed data architecture pipeline. From the understanding of the two sides – the data properties of technologies and the capabilities of data architectures – we develop an appraisal scoring process to evaluate the ability to integrate the new data into the existing data architecture.

To generalize this approach, the report presents a list of questions that can be used by stakeholders to help understand the data architecture used by any NRA (not only limited to the selected examples) when conduct the appraisal. We also develop an appraisal scoring process to evaluate the potential of the technologies to support practical decision making.The outcomes in this report (D3.2) and the previous one (D3.1), complete the INFRACOMS appraisal (scoring) system for the aspects of: data analysis, visualisation, integration into data architecture and potential support for decision making (forming part of the overall appraisal process). An example application of the process is presented for the case of acoustic emission monitoring the wire break in steel cables. In addition, the process has been applied to further technologies in the INFRACOMS database 1.0, and provided in the appendix. It is anticipated that refinement, and further guidance

The project’s aim was to analyse the importance of the authority or the association responsible for winter maintenance. Did it make a difference in the number of injury cases if it was the road authority or a property association who managed the winter maintenance? What was the pedestrian injury cost in relation to the cost of winter maintenance?

Injured pedestrian data from STRADA (Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition) healthcare client, from the period 2003/07/01 to 2010/06/30, provided a basis for the analysis. Often, it was only the Kalmar, Skåne, Värmland, Västmanland, Västernorrland and Jämtland regions that were included in the analysis. This was because hospitals from these regions had registered injured pedestrian data in STRADA during the whole analysis period. All injured persons do not necessarily seek hospital treatment. Treatment may have been obtained from other health care providers. The greater the distance to the hospital, the more likely it is to seek other health care treatment. This means that there will be an underestimate of the number of injured.

Winter maintenance costs were obtained for the years 2005 and 2007. The costs related to road the authorities’ total winter maintenance costs. Property associations’ maintenance costs for footway surfaces are not included in road authority costs so the costs are for road maintenance. Where the road authority is also responsible for footway surfaces, the cost of maintaining these surfaces is included in the total cost. This means that road authority costs are overestimated. Pedestrian injury costs are much higher than winter maintenance costs.