New publication: Road User Survey Report - Insights from Finnish Lapland

Road slipperiness is inevitable especially in the Nordic regions. However, modern technologies can enable services where high resolution road surface condition and road weather information is communicated to road users.

Steps towards this kind of service development have been taken in the Intelligent Road project, which is implemented jointly with Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Luleå University of Technology and Finnish Meteorological Institute. The idea is to demonstrate a system which is able to deliver short-term and location-specific slipperiness information to road users.

The study shows that everyday road users and professional transport rate is as very important to receive accurate real-time road weather information along with a great interest to make use of technical solutions informing them of the current situation of the road ahead. The most favourable technical solutions are smart phone applications, digital road signs and navigator system add-ons. The answers from the road users pose many opportunities but also challenges for developing and commercializing the Intelligent Road system.

The Intelligent Road System is a technical solution in form of a Road Weather Information System (RWIS), which informs road users about the current driving situation through a variety of channels based on realtime data. Through the provision of locality specific road weather information, fatal accidents might be prevented and the overall traffic safety in the north might increase.

This information system is realized by Arctic Power in cooperation with research institutes and universities (the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Luleå University of Technology) and various private partner enterprises. The operations are co-financed
by the EU’s INTERREG IVA program.