The paving season is at its busiest and asphalt surfaces are being created quickly. There is still potential for development in the way we repair and maintain the road network. According to INFRA ry, a contribution of just 6 million euros to the RDI program that improves the productivity of the road sector would result in savings of 80 million euros during the government's term. There is room, in particular, for material and method innovations.
In highway infrastructure, there is RDI potential, for example, in paving. The key raw material for asphalt and one of the largest cost and emission factors is bitumen, which is made from oil.
"If a new material technology, recycling solution or work method were to reduce the use of bitumen by even five percent in a hundred-kilometer paving job without reducing the durability of the pavement, hundreds of tons of bitumen would be saved and more could be paved with the same money," INFRA's leading expert Nina Raitanen gives an example.
“One line of research in recent years has investigated the partial replacement of bitumen with plant-based lignin, but further research is needed.”
Asphalt is largely recycled in Finland and its environmental impact has been reduced. Due to the size of the road network, the “last ditch effort” would still have a major impact.
There are plenty of interesting research topics in the highway sector
Raitanen would also direct RDI money to gravel roads and low-traffic asphalt roads to find new, cost-effective maintenance methods and materials.
"Small roads account for 82 percent of the road network's size and 92 percent of its repair debt. They are vital to business and are highly vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, even a small improvement in this context could easily lead to major savings."
“The impact of floods, droughts and other extreme weather events on roads and tracks is also an important research topic. New nature-based solutions and circular economy innovations are also needed. In the future, highways could be significant habitats that maintain biodiversity.”
A 6 million RDI investment would pay for itself quickly
INFRA has presented an RDI program to stimulate new ways of building and maintaining highways. 6 million euros per government term would be sufficient to finance it.
The investment would pay for itself quickly. The state spends a couple of billion a year on basic road maintenance. Even a one percent cut would mean annual savings of 20 million euros, which could be allocated to infrastructure critical to national defense, for example.
"The highways are under tremendous pressure: the repair debt is growing, climate change and national defense are challenging the structures. The highways are common property. The RDI funding allocated to them is wise asset management by the state and makes society more efficient," Raitanen argues.
Infra's RDI program goals
• make the use of public money more efficient in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure
• improve the productivity of infrastructure investments and extend the service life of infrastructure structures
• reduce construction and maintenance emissions and consumption of natural resources
• strengthens security of supply, overall safety and the functioning of society
• develop Finnish infrastructure expertise into exportable business.
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