Innovation and expertise
in road sector

The City of Jyväskylä has a winter mobility project that aims to develop winter maintenance and anticipation of winter maintenance measures with equipment purchased from different operators. 

As a part of this project AS Teede Tehnokeskus have begun a two-year pilot project focused on improving winter maintenance by using advanced weather monitoring technology on bridges. The project aims to provide real-time data on weather and road surface conditions, allowing the city to respond more effectively to winter weather challenges. By combining real-time sensor data with advanced weather models and user feedback data, the system delivers highly precise weather predictions specific to individual bridges. This enables the city to make more informed decisions on road maintenance. 

“As a city that experiences changing weather conditions, it is important for us to be able to anticipate changes in winter weather as well as possible. By introducing this new weather monitoring technology, we can gain a much deeper understanding of the road surface conditions on our bridges,” development manager Teemu Liimatainen from the city of Jyväskylä. “This allows us to react faster and more accurately to changing weather conditions. We believe that this partnership with AS Teede Tehnokeskus will improve the efficient use of resources.” 

As part of the project, autonomous IoT-based weather stations have been installed on selected bridges in Jyväskylä. These stations provide real-time updates on key factors such as road surface temperature and moisture levels, offering crucial insights into conditions that lead to ice formation. Thanks to their compact size, these sensors can be embedded directly into the bridge surface without causing any damage, providing highly accurate data even in the most challenging conditions. 

Real-Time Insights for Better Winter Mobility 

This pilot project will be closely monitored over the course of two years, with data analysis aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the technology in improving  maintenance practices. The success of the initiative could lead to further expansion of these systems to other critical infrastructure points in Jyväskylä and beyond. 

“This project represents an important step toward leveraging real-time data and advanced technology to enhance road safety during the winter months,” said Taivo Möll, CEO of AS Teede Tehnokeskus. “We look forward to seeing how these systems improve the winter maintenance of bridges in Jyväskylä.” 

On September 18, 2024, the annual conference “Bridge Day 2024” took place at the Estonia Resort & Spa Conference Center in Pärnu, gathering nearly 160 engineers and specialists. The event focused on the achievements and future challenges of bridge engineering in Estonia.

The conference featured a total of 16 presentations. A new format was introduced: an 8-minute presentation block consisting of 8 presentations, with slides changing automatically every 20 seconds, challenging presenters to convey key points within a short timeframe.

In recent years, Estonia has seen the construction of a significant number of various structures, including bridges, viaducts, and tunnels, which provided ample topics for discussion at the conference. The presentations highlighted that Estonia’s bridge engineering expertise has steadily advanced year by year, enabling the construction of increasingly complex and innovative structures.

One of the most challenging recent projects is considered to be the new arch bridge in Pärnu, currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2025. The bridge is being built by the company INF Infra. Conference participants also had the opportunity to visit the construction site of this new bridge.

The Bridge Day 2024 was organized by AS Teede Tehnokeskus in cooperation with the Estonian Transport Administration. The project managers for the event were Eva Äkke and Taivo Kurg, with Sander Sein serving as the moderator.

According to Order No. 88 issued by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia, AS Teede Tehnokeskus will be transferred to the administrative area of the Ministry of Climate, under the responsibility of the Minister of Infrastructure. Until now, AS Teede Tehnokeskus has operated under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. An excerpt from the order reads:

“The Minister of Infrastructure oversees the Ministry of Climate within their area of responsibility. The scope of responsibility for the Minister of Infrastructure includes the organization of circular economy and waste management policy, housing and construction, transportation (including logistics, international public transport, transit, logistics, and transport infrastructure), the enhancement of international competitiveness in the maritime economy, development of maritime sectors and the state-owned fleet (excluding vessels registered under the Defence Forces and Defence League), coordination of marine research, and management and protection of marine and water resources, as well as marine environmental policy and water economy; traffic management (covering rail, road, street, waterway, and air traffic), planning and implementation of transport systems, mobility and mobility services (including public transport infrastructure investments and procurements, as well as transport infrastructure and state-owned vessels procurement, except for those registered under the Defence Forces and Defence League), and improving traffic safety.

The institutions under the responsibility of the Minister of Infrastructure include the Transport Administration, the State Fleet, AS Lennuliiklusteenindus (Air Navigation Services), AS Nordic Aviation Group, AS Operail, AS Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways), AS Saarte Liinid, AS Tallinna Lennujaam (Tallinn Airport), AS Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn), Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ, Transpordi Varahaldus OÜ, and AS Teede Tehnokeskus.

The Minister of Infrastructure represents Estonia in the EU Transport, Telecommunications, and Energy Council on transport matters.”

Photo: Siim Lõvi, ERR

At the Lithuanian Road Forum “Kelių forumas 2024” held in Vilnius on January 18, 2024, Lithuania’s Minister of Roads, Marius Skuodis, stated that the sector is actively seeking solutions to improve road durability through science. Marek Truu shared Estonia’s smart approaches to enhancing road durability with his presentation, “Paving Homogeneity Matters – Using Bonus System Contracts in Estonia.”

In his presentation, Truu introduced the bonus system successfully implemented in Estonia and provided examples of the need for temperature consistency in pavement layers, along with the positive results achieved. “Builders want to deliver high-quality work, and the smart bonus system based on measuring pavement temperature consistency provides motivation, financial resources, and real-time data to ensure actual paving quality,” said Truu. “A uniformly installed temperature layer compacts evenly, extending the pavement’s lifespan, which saves resources that would typically be spent on premature repairs—materials, labor, taxpayer money, and road users’ time. Additionally, this approach reduces the associated CO2 footprint,” Truu added.