Estonia's road expertise and innovation center, the state-owned enterprise AS Teede Tehnokeskus, announced the winners of the "Smoothest Road in Estonia 2024" award during the Estonian Road Maintenance Forum held in Paide. This year's Smoothest Road 2024 award was given to the Jõhvi-Tartu-Valga road section in Tartu County, paved by Verston Eesti OÜ.

Smoothness Measurements Based on International Methodology

According to Sven Veskioja, project manager at AS Teede Tehnokeskus, road smoothness is evaluated using specialized measuring equipment based on the international IRI (International Roughness Index) methodology. "This year, smoothness measurements were conducted on 64 road sections across Estonia, all of which were considered in the rankings," said Veskioja.

Impressive Results for the Winning Section

The winning road section, located on the Jõhvi-Tartu-Valga road between kilometers 146.6 and 155.4, achieved a smoothness index of 0.63. The paving was carried out by Verston Eesti OÜ. This result significantly enhances the driving comfort and user experience of this road section, Veskioja added. The award was received by Alan Muruväli, Verston Eesti's construction manager.

Muruväli emphasized Verston's commitment to quality: "This year's outstanding results were achieved through forward-thinking and efficient planning, ensuring no asphalt delivery delays and continuous paver movement. Special attention was given to rolling to avoid any stops on the warm mix. Great work deserves applause, so let's give our asphalt team a big round of applause."

Recognizing Companies' Achievements

Verston Eesti OÜ was represented in the rankings with four road sections, including the winning section. Tariston AS made it to the list three times. The rankings also included Tref AS, Tref Nord AS, and Atemo OÜ. "Estonian road builders consistently deliver high-quality work, which deserves recognition," Veskioja emphasized.

Top 10 Smoothest Roads

1. State Road No. 3 Jõhvi-Tartu-Valga, km 146.6–155.4 – Verston Eesti OÜ
2. State Road No. 1 Tallinn-Narva, km 150.7–156.3 – Verston Eesti OÜ
3. State Road No. 92 Tartu-Viljandi-Kilingi-Nõmme, km 26.1–28.2 – Tariston AS
4. State Road No. 11300 Lagedi-Aruküla-Peningi, km 0.1–2.3 – Verston Eesti OÜ
5. State Road No. 20 Põdruse-Kunda-Pada, km 16.91–28.35 – Atemo OÜ
6. State Road No. 5 Pärnu-Rakvere-Sõmeru, km 98.9–108.1 – TREF AS
7. State Road No. 6 Valga-Uulu, km 106.7–119.2 – TREF Nord AS
8. State Road No. 15 Tallinn-Rapla-Türi, km 17.6–23.9 – Verston Eesti OÜ
9. State Road No. 92 Tartu-Viljandi-Kilingi-Nõmme, km 35.2–36.2 – Tariston AS
10. State Road No. 2 Tallinn-Tartu-Võru-Luhamaa, km 129.8–136.9 – Tariston AS

Smooth Roads Across Estonia

"This year's smoothest roads were relatively evenly distributed across Estonia, which is very positive for regional development. In addition to Nõo and Elva municipalities in Tartu County, the quality of the road network was also improved in Toila municipality in Ida-Viru County, Viru-Nigula municipality in Lääne-Viru County, Saku and Rae municipalities in Harju County, Saarde municipality in Pärnu County, Põltsamaa municipality in Jõgeva County, and in Paide, Järva County," said Veskioja.

Investments and Quality Enhance Traffic Safety

"Asphalt paving is a complex process requiring significant investments and motivation. Measurement results show that Estonian road builders maintain a high standard. It is also worth noting that consistent investment in roads increases traffic safety, improves the driving environment, and reduces maintenance costs for both road owners and users," Veskioja concluded.

Supporting the next generation in the roadconstruction field has always been important to us! We had a pleasure of hosting first year TalTech students from the roadengineering program. 

Henri Prank, our laboratory manager, introduced them to the lab´s work and shared insight about the role of research and development in road construction. 

Its always inspiring to see future engineers taking their first steps in the field. Thank you for visiting – we hope to see you again soon!

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.

The Road Technology Seminar, held for the 5th time in a row, took place on April 11, 2023. The purpose of the seminar series is to introduce and inspire topics and opportunities at the crossroads of roads and technology. 

The seminar was held online and was attended by more than 150 listeners. The seminar was organized by AS Teede Tehnokeskus.

We announced the smoothest road sections built in 2022 at the Road Maintenance Forum held in Paide Music and Theater House in December. The road section on the Rakvere-Rannapungerja highway km 10-15, which was built by Verston, won first place! The road praises the maker! Last year’s smoothest road was also built by Verston. Maybe next year too?

The announcement of the smoothest road took place in the large hall of the Paide Music and Theater House due to a power outage, this time by candlelight, and the participants will surely remember it for a long time. Romet Raun presented the award on behalf of Teede Tehnokeskus, and Marek Aun accepted the recognition on behalf of Verston.

Internationally, the IRI number (International Roughness Index) is used to express the roughness of the road and its measurement unit is mm/m. In the Road Technology Center, measurement engineer Egon Horg (picture), who has been doing this work for more than 20 years, measures the roughness of roads.

An important milestone! AS Teede Tehnokeskus and its predecessor, Maanteeameti Tehnokeskus, have been organizing trainings since 1995 and have been the main organizers of additional trainings in the field of roads. We started registering certificates issued by us in 2000, and to date the number of issued certificates has exceeded 10,000. One can only imagine how much knowledge and learning this number contains. All this time, our recognized and energetic training manager Eva Äkke has organized the trainings.

Experienced road engineer Vello Voolaid received a training certificate with the magic number 10,000 for his participation in the advanced training for the construction supervision of road maintenance works (19.01-21.01.22).

In the picture: Eva Äkke and Vello Voolaid at the ceremonial handing over of the certificate at Leonhard Weiss Viater’s office.

Good cooperation partners and friends! We wish you happy holidays and a successful new year!