FIRST ESTONIAN WINTER ROAD EVENT HELD IN VORU

REGIONAL T2 SEMINAR COINCIDED

THE BALTIC TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTERS AND THE FINNISH TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTER FINNT2 CONSIDERED 'TALVETEE 97' TO BE A VERY EDUCATIONAL EVENT. THEREFORE, THEY ORGANIZED THEIR 9TH REGIONAL T2 SEMINAR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS ROADEO.

Some 300 road maintenance people from all over Estonia and some from neighboring countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany) and USA attended the Roadeo which was the first of its kind in Estonia. The demonstration and appraisal of applicability of the maintenance vehicles and equipment took place on a remote road section in Varstu, ten odd miles from the Russian border. A dozen trucks, half of them Finnish Sisus, equipped with different kinds of snow plows and accessories for anti-skid treatment (sand, salt, pre-wetted salt and brine spreaders) were circulating on the road in front of the audience.

Estonian Winter Roadeo: plowing demonstration

The semi-annual T2 Seminar of the Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and American T2 experts was arranged the following day. It was appraised that the joint technology transter program for 1996 was fully and successfully completed. However, the parties had the future in view: the main issue of the seminar was the planning of practical steps in the implementation of the 1997 work plan.

JARMO IKONEN

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After profound studies it was last year decided that the semi-motorway section between Helsinki and Lahti is upgraded into a motorway by using shadow tolls.

This FinnContact issue reveals facts that led to the signing of the 15 years DBFO agreement last month.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

The Finnish Road Administration's (Finnra) direct road toll working group published its report in January, 1993 presenting various toll options to be considered. Another working group set by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), Finland, submitted a report on May, 1993 proposing a regional road toll system in the Helsinki area. Political opposition led to these user-based private finance schemes to being shelved. The MoTC, Finnra and Finnra's Uusimaa Region commissioned Hambros Bank Ltd and Mandatum & Co Oy to produce a paper showing how the private finance approach would work in Finnish road projects. This paper was completed in April, 1995. The paper analysed the use of private finance applying the so-called shadow toll approach. A new working group set by the MoTC recommended in its final report in March, 1996 that private finance would be implemented in road construction and maintenance by shadow toll option. The working group presented that the shadow toll option would be introduced into Main Road 4 between J�rvenp�� and Lahti.

Figure 1. Map of Main Road 4 between J�rvenp�� and Lahti.

THE SHADOW TOLL APPROACH

The principle of the shadow toll option is that a private sector company (RoadCo) concludes a 15 to 25 year DBFO agreement with the road administration, under which it designs (D), builds (B), finances (F) and operates (O) a certain stretch of road. RoadCo produces a service package for the stretch and gets contributions from the Government budget during the concession period. The payments are based on the traffic performance (traffic volumes) of the road section.

INTRODUCING SHADOW TOLL APPROACH INTO MAIN ROAD 4

The J�rvenp�� - Joutj�rvi stretch is a suitable project to be realised using the shadow toll option because it is socio-economically very feasible. The cost-benefit ratio of the project is 2,7. The time and accident cost savings are estimated to be FIM 120 -180 million annually. Additional savings are expected to get from shortening of the construction time of the project and carrying out the construction during a period of economic recession. Compared to the conventional finance, the project can now, using shadow tolls, be started at least five years earlier. The impact on employment is over 2 000 manpower years during the construction period. Main Road 4 is to be realised suitable as a shadow toll option also as far as the planning is concerned, because the first part of the road plan is already in legal force and for the remaining part, the plan is just under treatment in accordance with the Road Act. The road is expected to be opened to traffic in the autumn of year 2000.

CONTENTS OF THE PROJECT

The agreement covers upgrading the J�rvenp��-Joutj�rvi stretchof the semi-motorway into a standard motorway and maintaining this stretch (both the old and the new carriageway) for 15 years. The construction also includes the road design. The cost estimate (excluding value added tax) for the investment is FIM 550 - 590 million and for the maintenance period FIM 10 million per annum.

Figure 2. Procedure used in selecting the contracting company.

• Second carriageway of the motorway 69,0 km
• Ramps of graded interchange (8 pcs) and rest areas (5 pcs) 12,5 km
• Other public roads 1,0 km
• Private roads 7,0 km
• Bridges 88 pcs
• Noise barriers 8,5 km
• Game fences 130 km
• Road lighting in graded interchanges 15 km
• Soil cut connected to construction 1,9 mill. m3
• Rock cut connected to construction 1,5 mill. m3

PREPARATION OF THE DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE INVITATION TO TENDER (ITT)

The contractual documentation available in early 1996 was not adequate to be applied to this kind of DBFO project. This fact was due to the extent and quality of the investment in question and to the upcoming long agreement period. The documents related to the invitation to tender were to be prepared by the beginning of July, 1996. The preparation of these documents and the invitation procedure were carried out by a special project group in the central administration of Finnra mainly in May and June, 1996. To create the ITT documents some consultants, among them the Finnish company Finnmap and the British company Wilde Sapte, were used.

Some important matters of principle were dealt within a management group set by the MoTC. For instance, some details in the laws concerning taxation had to be altered.

SELECTING THE COMPANY

The procedure usea in selecting the contracting company is presented in the chart in Figure 2. In the beginning of May, 1996 the tender notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Accordingly, companies could express their willingness in producing the services in question and taking part in the coming competition. Based on the evaluation criteria set beforehand, the following 5 candidates were chosen in July, 1996 to take part in the negotiated tender procedure:

• Ryhm� Vt 4: SRV-Viitoset Oy, Niska & Nyyss�nen Oy, Karjalan Murske Oy, Insin��ritoimisto Seppo Rantala Oy, Sata-Asfaltti Oy and Dragados SA (Spain)
• Tieyhti� Nelostie Oy: Skanska Ab (Sweden), Skanska Oy and Tekra-Yhti�t
• Bouygues SA (France)
• Suomen Laatutiet Oy: NCC Ab (Sweden), NCC-Puolimatka Oy and Laing Construction Plc
• Vianova Oy: YIT-Yhtym� Oy, Neste Oy and Rakennus Oy Lemmink�inen.

COMPARISON OF BIDS RECEIVED

All of the five shortlisted consortia submitted their bids by the deadline November 19,1996.

Each consortium was to submit a general bid. The general bids were based on the model of risk sharing proposed by Finnra. The concession period was 15 years and Finnra provided the consortia with a traffic forecast for the road. The forecast was also usea as base data in calculating the comparative values of the bids. In addition to the general bid, each consortium was allowed to submit a maximum of three alternative bids. Finnra used the bids to compile an intergrated comparison table. The basis for the comparison was the current net value derived from the annual payments to be made to the consortia. Other elements of the bids were also assessed by rating the following factors:

• reliability
• quality of investment
• special quality factors
• quality of maintenance
• quality control.

All the bidders were informed of the bid assessment system beforehand. The relationship of the current net value to the rating was 90/10 (extreme values). The task of valuing and rating the bids was carried out by assessment teams made up of Finnra experts. Finnra hired the Finnish company Veikko Palotie to act as legal advisor in the negotiation phase.

Based on the first round negotiations with all the tenderers and the completed comparison table Finnra selected on December 11,1996 two consortia to take part in follow-up meetings. The consortia were Tieyhti� Nelostie Oy (Skanska) and Ryhm� Vt 4 (Dragados).

On December 20,1996 the decision was taken to continue the negotiations exclusively with Tieyhti� Nelostie Oy (Skanska). The final DBFO agreement was signed on March 19, 1997 with this consortium. The estimated total value of the 15 years agreement is about FIM 1,2 billion.

FOLLOWING STAGES OF THE PROJECT

Maintenance responsibility for the existing carriageway (semi-motorway) is transferred to the contractor company on May 1, 1997 and the construction work of the second carriageway begins on May 5,1997. The new motorway will be opened to traffic in two sections:

• J�rvenp�� - M�nts�l� N (30,2 km): October 1, 1999
• M�nts�l� N - Lahti (39 km): September 1, 2000

Figure 3. It is two minutes before the deadline for the submission of bids on November 19, 1996. The cheerful Finnra personnel, from left, Risto Pelttari (Project Manager), Maria Rautavirta, Kaisa-Leena V�lipirtti and Seppo Nuolua. They open the bids soon.

The contractor receives annual payments (app. FIM 2-3 million) for the maintenance of the existing carriageway during the investment period.

The contractor begins to receive annual payments (app. FIM 80-115 million) for the total motorway level services in proportion to the motorway sections that will be opened to traffic.

The consession period ends on August 30, 2012.

Mr. RISTO PELTTARI, Finnra

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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN RELATION TO QUALITY SYSTEM

Structurally and conceptually, environmental systems are largely similar to quality systems. At the conceptual revel, both aim at improving activities continually, preventing problems in advance and bringing all activities under control. At Finnra, it is expedient to make the environmental management system a part of the operation system (quality system). This helps to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy and resistance that may rise upon the introduction of two separate systems. An organisation that has implemented principles of quality management finds it easy to adopt the principles of an environmental management system and the systematic ways typical of quality systems. Figure 1 demonstrates the structure of the productions operation system.

Figure 1: Structure of the productions operation system

SETTING UP AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In developing the operation system the main environmental issues are to:

• make a managerial commitment
• make an initial environmental review
• develop an environmental action plan
• define the environmental responsibilities of the personnel and raise environmental awareness
• make regular operation system audits, which include environment audits
• make, by management, reviews to ensure continued improvement.

Managerial commitment
The first step towards setting up an operation system is to get the management of the organisation committed to develop its environmental management system with regard to the organisation's operations, products and services. This is a prerequisite for a successful operation system. The management cannot delegate its responsibility for environmental leadership. To be able to set up an operation system, the management of the organisation needs to make genuine decisions, which usually also have cost-related effects.

Initial environmental review
The first thing in setting up an operation system is to assess the current status of environmental matters in the organisation, i.e. to make an initial environmental review. This stage is often quite laborious. Matters of consideration are, for example, all environmental aspects, significant environmental impacts and legal requirements. The initial environmental review is made only once, and the subsequent monitoring is done within the environmental system.

Environmental action plan
The environmental action plan is a dynamic, short-term plan which addresses the enterprise's priorities. It identifies the actual actions which need to be carried out in order to meet the annual targets (and therefore progress towards its objectives) in the long-term environmental action plan and shows how this will be done. At the same time, a monitoring procedure for each target is defined and the person or unit responsible for it is nominated. The environmental targets must imply unequivocal volition, and they should be as concrete as possible.

Responsibilities and training
The management of the organisation should clearly define the environmental responsibilities of the personnel clearly. Therefore, it will be necessary to identify roles and positions for the environmental function for both individuals and units. Furthermore, the management should clearly communicate these requirements to the appropriate personnel.

Most of the environmental matters are the responsibility of persons carrying out the routine process. It is an important principle that each person is responsible for taking into account environmental matters in their own work. Training is needed to ensure that the personnel has an updated knowledge of the legal requirements, the in-house practices and the organisational policies and goals.

Checking and corrective action
To make the operations conform to the environmental requirements even in practice, the organisation must provide the personnel with instructions which define the environmentally sound ways of carrying out the operations with significant environmental impacts.

Operation system audits which include environment audits are carried out to determine whether the system is congruent with the plans and whether its implementation and maintenance comply with the requirements.

Management review
In order to ensure the adequacy of the operation system, the management shall, at suitable intervals, review the system. The purpose of management reviews is to assess the achievement of the environmental goals and targets and the effectiveness of the operation system, to review the results of the audits and to make proposals that would improve the system.

IMPLEMENTATION OF OPERATION SYSTEMS IN FINNRA PRODUCTION

Finnra began to develop environmental management systems in early 1995. In maintenance, the pilot projects were established in the H�me road district. Finnra has also launched a project on the environmental risks of ferries. In January 1996, a pilot project was started in the Vaasa road district to develop an environmental management system for road construction. The systems are based on the environmental management system standard ISO 14001 and quality system standard ISO 9001.

The purpose is to integrate the systems in such a way that in Finnra, there will be an operation system that incorporates quality, environment, work safety and work policy issues.

Mr. KARI MUHONEN, Finnra

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

From time to time organisations face a situation where present strategies and tools are not sufficient for new challenges. In the Finnish National Road Administration, Finnra, we faced this situation after a renovation of the organisational structures in the beginning of 1993.

In 1993 Finland's economy was weakening. The parliament wanted the government to set up a committee to give a report of Finland's strengths and weaknesses in the future. This committee ended up with three scenarios of ten fatal questions. The answers to these questions would direct the way to the tuture. Finnra benefited from this report and examined those factors which concern the infra-structure, the challenges to the road network and the whole transport system. To manage these challenges, a broad background analysis was added at the base of global and local alteration factors, such as economical growth, environment, population, technology, values and attitudes, public sector, local and community structures, economy, taxation and the transport system. Making up the organisation's mind of the desirable future was an challenging step to take. Future challenges of the transport sector in Finland, up to the year 2005, have been defined and published in the documents Road to the Next Century; Road Management's Vision 2005 and Road Management Plan 1995-2004.

In these documents the road management goals are:

• Day-to-day trafficability will be first and foremost: Reliability, driveability and economy of the road network will be the basic prerequisites for road traffic. A good level of service will ensure that the overall expense of road traffic will be as low as possible.
• The emphasis on safety will be preserved: All the road users will be taken into account when planning the traffic surroundings, improving the reliability of the system and reducing situations that cause risks and disturbances.
• Reliable and fluent travel will be emphasised: The present speed level will have to be preserved with road management methods. The function of the main roads will be to provide undisturbed and fluent travel, a uniform high speed level and a continuous network of even quality. On smaller roads and in built up areas, the focus will be on achieving an overall solution with a balance between speed, fluency, safety, economy and the surroundings. The fluency of car traffic in cities will be improved in many ways.
• A new relationship with the environment: No longer will road management only attempt to prevent the negative effects on the environment of road traffic, but road traffic and road management will be seen as a part of a transport system that is being improved as a whole by applying the principle of sustainable development. In this phase we integrated the R&D programming organisationally and functionally together. The aforementioned documents together with an analysis of Finnra's core competence and R&D strategy form the basis for the contents of the research programme. The planning of a R&D program is also closely connected to the planning of all the yearly operations of the organisation.

A new R&D strategy was formed to point out the programming needs. The research needs would then be generated from the aforementioned documents. In 1994 there were five topics picked out to be the most important when developing Finnra's R&D programming:

The evaluation of fullfilling this strategy is presented after every step in italics. The evaluation concerns years 1994-95, and is mostly verbal since so far, they are not suitable measurable indicators.

• Finnra will proceed to three-year programming in years 1995-97 and revise the content of the programme. Instead of yearly programmes, a longer funding term is desirable. The content should clearly aim at the same targets that Finnra has.

  This programming was carried out during 1994 and is presently implemented. The programme was adjusted for 1996 during 1995. The content ot the programme is based on strategic plans and targets at Finnra.

• Focal areas and weights of the R&D budget would aim at: 1. Road management 15%; 2. Road traffic and its impacts 35%; 3. The road as a network, a route and as a structure 35%; 4. Corporate planning 10%; 5. Innovations, creativity 5%. The first three focal areas match the core competence of Finnra. Applied research in these areas will ensure and enlarge the capabilities of the personnel in the future. Unlike most countries and companies, Finnra includes corporate planning in its R&D programme. The challenges there are huge since the production sector will be privatised in a couple of years. As a new element, innovations are wanted and encouraged and so-called risk-money is reserved for that. When the development, for example, in information, gene or space technology has been enormous, we still plough thousands of kilometres of road mechanically, daily.

  The trend is in accordance with the strategy. The weights vary 0-4% from the target.

• The target for the R&D budget raises up to 2% of Finnra's total budget.

  Allocations were in 1994 1,2% and 1995 1,5%. The Board of Directors has kept the R&D budget though the total funding of Finnra has been reduced by the government.

• The quality of the projects will be improved. Quality management should be instructed and taught to all researchers and research managers. Also the work of the steering committees of the larger projects should be improved.

  A method for managing the quality of projects was developed during 1995 and is still being refined. During 1996 it was adopted in a majority of the projects. The programming process is also described and defined and in 1996 it should be carried out on a required timetable.

• Active co-operation. Co-operation in Finnra, between Finnra and the ministries, universities and consultants should be more active. The grade of the research is evaluated internationally. More reports will be translated. National resources should unite when bidding in EU programmes. Regarding EU research, our goal is primarily to get in the programme as a partner and activate international co-operation. Besides the importance of being a partner it is also essential to follow-up the research work and the implementation of its results. On the other hand we know that EU research brings along a lot of new bureaucracy and getting final results can take years.

  Finnra has supported the Ministry of Transport and Communications when it started to develop national R&D strategies. The public and private partnership increased mainly when bidding the EU-projects. In co-operation with Finnra, 23 bids were made and 12 ot them are negotiated with the EU commission.

PROGRAMMING R&D

The link from sectored strategic planning to the content of the research programme was ensured by teamworking with the planners and researchers. We invited people to a meeting who took part in the strategic processes, and researchers and research managers from all organisational units and limits. To collect the ideas, innovative working methods were used and a special consultant led these meetings. Eight research themes were crystallised to supplement the completeness of the program. Beside this, ten large on-going project entities would continue abreast, and tens of other smaller projects would come and go when needed.

The eight research themes are: control systems of road management, built-up areas, traffic safety, environment, development of traffic-related techniques, bridges, production processes and road structures & equipment. To work out the contents of these themes there was a seminar for each theme. Again, experts were broadly invited and the seminars were conducted using innovative methods. In these seminars the targets were defined for the next three years. After each seminar an expert was chosen to specify given instructions to a smaller scale research wholeness.

Besides giving a wider understanding to the programme and the allocation of the funds, this period of the programme carries research without breaks over the period of reorganising Finnra. After the three year period 1995-97 a new determination will be made for the research programme contents.

THE QUALITY OF THE PROGRAMMING PROCESS

The quality of the programming process is improved by describing the process and identifying and checking the critical points in both the financial process and the decisionmaking process. The process begins with identifying the demands and expectations of the road users, business and industry. Some of these are given to Finnra as the yearly targets by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The process ends with the responding to the development demands that concern the transport system.

The primary clients of the process are the project managers. They get alignments and budgets for the activities that they are responsible for and mandates to execute the projects. The researchers in Finnra, universities, consultant companies, etc. bid for the projects, negotiate and fulfil the projects. Road users, business and industry constantly set demands for the quality of the road network and transportation system. This is what the road authorities respond to by developing their capability and competence in road management, traffic demand and traffic management.

A simplified figure of the process.

Success in the process can be measured by indicators such as:

• Producing and getting new skills and methods
• Personnel skills in the areas of core competence
• Foreseeing the needs of the clients
• Fulfilling the R&D strategy (goal/realization)
• Keeping the budget (goal/realization)
• Utility value of program to the research managers
• Width of the co-operation.

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TIEL 3100013
Frost heave calculation models.
The most advanced models usea in frost heave calculation and their suitability in Finnish conditions were examined.

TIEL 4000088
Preventing reflective cracking in asphalt pavements - Preliminary study.
An opinion was formed about the reflective cracking problem within the Finnish road network. Possibilities to prevent pavements from this problem were studied. A plan for further studies was prepared, too.

TIEL 3200256
The use of granulated blast-furnace slag in pavement.
Design and dimensioning guidelines for Finnish conditions were prepared. Also work descriptions for the use of blast-furnace slag in pavement structure were made.

TIEL 3200262
Compaction and increasing of fines by compaction process.
A study concerning factors influencing the compaction of crushed rock. Also the recognition of poor quality crushed rock by a IC-test was studied.

TIEL 4000119
Compaction of fine grained materials.
The need for compaction of fine grained soils (clay and silt) and methods applicable for the compaction were studied.

TIEL 3200330
Assessment of the quality and functioning of a test structure on the mire of Veittostensuo.
The final state and comportment of a stabilized test embankment on turf-silt weak soil were assessed after three years'of surveillance.The results were good.

TIEL 3200382
Stabilization by granulated blast-furnace slag.
Guidelines for blast-furnace slag stabilization works are presented in this examination.

TIELS 3200397
Stabilization of the road base material by blast-furnace slag products.
Properties and use of blast-furnace slag material in the stabilization of structural courses are presented in this study.

TIEL 3200414
LD steel slag as road construction material.
Material properties and experiences and applicability of LD steel slag for road construction were examined in the study.

TIEL 3200213
Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) - Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP).
The determination of material modulus with the help of back-calculation programs and prediction models for failure of road structures are presented in this study.

TIEL 3200219
The modeling of frost effects.
Factors affecting the bearing capacity during frost thawing as well as the validity of methods usea to assess the frost penetration and frost heave were examined.

TIEL 3200223
Stress and strain measurements in pavements in 1992-1993.
Thawing simulation, the effect of water table revel at high temperature and the effect on the road edge were studied.

TIEL 3200240
Rock cuts.
Guidelines for planning and implementation of rock cuts so that they will be durable and environmentally friendly are presented.

TIEL 3200254
Thermomechanical model for freezing soil and its computer implementation.
A mathematical model for the freezing of soil has been examined.

TIEL 3200281
Pavement fatigue criteria.
The effect of traffic loading on the evenness of road surface was investigated and, based on the results, it developed a fatigue criteria for road structure.

TIEL 3200385
The target criteria.
The design criteria for the factors which affect the distress and evenness of roads were investigated so that the limited values for TPPT test sections can be set.