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VOL. 5 / No. 3 / October, 1997

Quarterly Newsletter of the Finnish Highway Transportation Technology Transfer Center, FinnT2
Address: Finnish National Road Administration, FinnT2, P.O. Box 33, 00521 Helsinki, FINLAND
Fax Int. 358 204 44 2675. E-mail: [email protected] Editor: Arto Tevajarvi, Tel. Int +358 204 44 2032
Editor-in-Chief: Jarmo Ikonen, Tel. Int. 358 204 44 2118

Contents

BALTIC COUNTRY ROADS:
REHABILITATION AS TOP PRIORITY

THE EXISTING ROAD NETWORKS OF ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA WERE CONSTRUCTED DURING THE ERA WHEN THE COUNTRIES BELONGED TO THE SOVIET UNION. MAINTENANCE OF THE ROADS WAS NOT ADEQUATE UNDER THE SOVIET RULE, NOR HAS IT BEEN FINANCIALLY POSSIBLE SINCE THE RESTORATION OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE. FURTHERMORE, A REMARKABLE INCREASE IN TRAFFIC VOLUMES ON THE ROADS HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS AND WILL CONTINUE IN THE FUTURE.

Thus, it is no wonder that Rehabilitation of Roads and Motorways was chosen as the theme for the XXXIII International Road Conference of the Baltic Road Council (BRC) organized in P�rnu, Estonia, on August 25-27, 1997. The chain of the BRC Road Conferences began already in 1932, and this conference was the second in order after the restoration of the independence of these countries. There were some 450 road specialists from 18 countries at the conference. In addition to the plenary session, the conference program was divided into 5 sections: 1.Asphalt Pavements and Improvement Techniques; 2.Transport Policy; 3.Road Data Bank. Pavement Management Systems; 4.Road Technology Transfer; 5.Road Maintenance.

The above-mentioned sections were chaired, respectively, by the following persons: 1.James Sorenson, USA; Gintaras Striaukas, Lithuania; and Andris Lapsins, Latvia; 2.Maurits Westerhuis, Switzerland ; Talis Straume, Latvia; and Aleksander Kaldas, Estonia; 3. Hillar Varik, Estonia; 4.Virgaudas Puodziukas, Lithuania; 5. Raimo Tapio, Finland.

Picture 1:
A crowd at the exhibition stand of the Latvian Road Administration. Center of photo and at his left, the Finnish and Latvian Director Generals, Lasse Weckstr�m and Olafs Kronlaks.

Via Baltica, the highway linking Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and being under rehabilitation on several road sections was dealt in meny papers of the conference.

Indoor and outdoor exhibitions were included in the road conference. Many, mainly foreign, companies and organizations had seized the opportunity to display their products and expertise.

The organizers of this occasion succeeded in their effort in a praiseworthy way. The XXXIV BRC Road Conference will be arranged in Riga, Latvia, in June, 2000.

In connection with the P�rnu conference, many organizations and groups arranged their own meetings. Among them was the FinnT2 Advisory Committee consisting of eight members from the leading Finnish road sector organizations. At this meeting, a committee member reported about a study made in the Helsinki University of Technology. According to the study's results, it would be economically profitable, in Estonia, to always do its resealing works, and also to construct asphalt wearing course slabs on roads with traffic flow at least 6000 veh/day, by using high-quality granite aggregate transported from Finland.

This FinnContact issue provides the readership with topical papers given in the plenary session and the road technology transfer section of this year's BRC Conference. The papers are heavily abridged by the editors.

JARMO IKONEN

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ESTONIAN ROAD NETWORK DEVELOPMENT DURING 1994-1997

Estonia - with its population of 1.46 million and area of 45 227 square kilometres - is a small state situated on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and is divided into 15 counties. Due to the geographical position we found ourselves in junction of trade and tourist flows of eastern-western and northern-southern directions. At present the best-known road project among many that have been developed in Estonia is Via Baltica.

The total length of the Estonian road network is 43 825 km, 34.5 % of which are state roads, i.e. 15 304 km.

Among the roads there are 1 190 km (i.e. 7.8 %) of main roads, 2 666 km (17.4 %) of basic roads and 11 448 km (74.8 %) of local roads. On January 1,1997, the length of paved state roads was 8 149 km, which forms 53.2 % of the total length of the state roads. The southeastern part of Estonia has the biggest number of gravel roads.

The density of state roads is 352 km/1000 sq.km, while the density of the whole road network is 1013 km/1000 sq.km. One can say that the density of the Estonian road network is satisfying, geographically established and road distances between towns and villages are suitable. It means that it is not necessary to construct new roads, but rather bypasses in built up areas, straighten unsafe road sections and also reconstruct existing roads according to higher class road standards.

Picture 2: A view of the Estonian road network.

The highest traffic volumes and its changes occur in Tallinn surroundings. During 1978- 1996 the increase was 4.6 % per year and among cars 6.5 % per year as measured on the city boundaries.

On January 1,1997 there were 518 686 vehicles registered in Estonia, among them 399 217 cars, 48 433 trucks and 6 829 buses. Studying traffic volumes in 1997 one can notice that on all 3 main roads in Tallinn (Tallinn-Narva, Tallinn-Tartu, Tallinn-P�rnu) traffic volumes are higher than 6000 vehicles per day, whereby the traffic volume on Tallinn-Tartu road takes only the third place here. Volume of road transport in Estonia forms only a half of the volume of railway transport. That is why there is no need for reconstructing the roads according to international highway standards.

We must admit that during the last 10 years the development of road network has not met the needs of the growing motorization in Estonia.

In the development plan of the Estonian road maintenance up to the year 2005, compiled in 1995, it was stated that during the recent years, due to the shortage of budget resources, the development of road network has been slower than the growth of traffic. That is why, on many sections, top soil, road bed, crossings and rallroad crossings need thorough repair, most of asphalt-grouted surfacing of main and main connecting roads are worn out, and asphalt covering partly needs replacing. Also equipment for measuring defects and imperfections is missing.

Solely in order to maintain the existing level of passableness of the Estonian roads every year 300 km of repair of asphalt-grouted surfacing and asphalt coverage, 1500-1700 km of covering and 1200-1600 km of repair of gravel roads by adding mineral aggregates should be carried out. During the last 5 years the state could finance only 30 % of the volume of works mentioned above.

Priorities have been worked out in order to handle these difficult situations: a) to minimize backwardness; b) to develop network, in case of better financing.

The first priority includes maintenance activities on main roads, supply of traffic control devices and rehabilitation of pavement to ensure passableness. According to possibilities we continue the construction works that have already been started.

The second priority, in case of better financing, includes standard rehabilitation of pavement, developing and restructuring of road network and paving of gravel roads (where needed) according to regional policies and economic and traffic studies.

The biggest problem of the Estonian road maintenance is financing. In 1996, priorities of road financing were set up based on the idea that road users should cover the costs of road maintenance as directly as possible. Still we have not succeeded in avoiding prevailing shortage of money. One possible solution here is to increase regularly fuel excise tax.

(Abridgement of the paper of Riho S�rmus, Director General of the Estonian Road Administration.)

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STRATEGY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATVIAN ROAD SECTOR AND THE ROLE OF REHABILITATION IN THE STRATEGY

STATE PROGRAM OF ROAD BRANCH

State Program of Road Branch was worked out in 1994-1995 for the time till 2010. The working team consisted of representatives from the Road Administration, builders and private consultants.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the real condition of the road network was evaluated and results of insufficient road network financing were estimated for the first time. During the period of 1992-1995, the rehabilitation of road pavements and bridge repair were interrupted and the deficit of works which were not carried out was shown in the program. The resulls of the interrupted works are deterioration of old pavements and decrease in driving quality.

Picture 3: A view of the Latvian network.

A forecast of traffic increase (with three different increase rates) was included in the program. It gave possibilities to evaluate future changes of loads on roads and, in connection with this, also rehabilitation necessities. According to the condition of the road network, maintenance necessities, evaluation of financing possibilities in the branch and goals were included in the program

  • for the period till year 2000, and
  • for the period of 2000-2010

MAIN TASKS OF THE PROGRAM: REHABILITATION OF ROAD PAVEMENTS AND BRIDGES

In order to provide acceptable quality of asphalt pavements for drivers on state roads in Latvia, pavements in length of 1400 km have to be rehabilitated every year. The main rehabilitation method is surface treatment, taking into account low traffic intensity. Overlays should be planned not more than for 200 km, and 40% of them should include previous milling of old wearing course.

Taking into account the postponed rehabilitation works that have accumulated on the state roads, 1655 km of roads have to be rehabilitated immediately - in addition to the works we have to carry out every year. It is clear that State Road Fund will not be able to generate all the financing necessary to eliminate the deficit of repair works. The necessary sum is equal to the present total budget for the road branch, worth 100 million USD. Obviously, we shall have to implement a program in order to eliminate the repair deficit only in 5-10 years. In this case, the black pavement rehabilitation program would be 1770-1660 km per year.

The same problem exists in bridge rehabilitation. There are three main causes for the present bridge condition:

  • imperfection in technical solutions, which has increased the risk of faster deterioration;
  • low quality of construction works - elementary requirements for the thickness of concrete covering courses and hydroinsulation have often been neglected;
  • insufficient daily maintenance works - cleaning of bridges, repair of expansion junctions.

Together with the main task - rehabilitation - the state road service will continue in other directions (e.g. in equipment for traffic safety and information system) importart for road users. Unfortunately, these activities will not be sufficient in order to give the greatest benefits for road users.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT CORRIDORS

These are two actual transportation corridors that are thoroughly investigated for the time being:

  • Via Baltica
  • direction from the ice free ports in Liepaja and Ventspils to Riga and further to Russia.

Via Baltica is a route in North-South direction connecting Finland, the three Baltic States and Poland, and is approximately 1000 km long. The route has a clearly determined political priority and in spite of many difficulties (border crossing problems, route sections being under different jurisdictions) the route has received the European road number E67. Now, efter rehabilitation and improvement works, it is better paved and equipped than other roads in the territory of Latvia.

The West-East direction from the ice free ports in Liepaja and Ventspils to Riga, and further to Russia, is being started to develop, as the good turnover in the mentioned ports, as well as transit, are increasing. This route will in the future become a part of the multimodal West- East transport corridor comprising roads, railroads and pipelines.

(Abridgement of the paper of Talis Straume, Director of Road Department in the Latvian Ministry of Transport.)

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LITHUANIAN ROADS IN 1994-1997

ROAD MANAGEMENT

For the last three years essential changes in the Lithuanian road management have taken place. Former road and bridge construction companies were privatized. These companies perform road construction, rehabilitation and other works.

State road companies were reorganized by splitting them, i.e., by separating road maintenance and construction activities. The companies were joined into bigger state companies. At present, road construction and maintenance works are being performed by 10 state road companies "Regiono keliai" and state company "Automagistrale" at the Ministry of Transport.

The Lithuanian Road Administration implements the total policy of state road network extension, construction, maintenance, repair, traffic safety and infrastructure development. LRA is the Employer. LRA is the Holder and the Manager of the Road Fund.

FINANCING OF WORKS

The works performed on the state roads were financed from the state budget till January 1, 1997. After the Road Fund Law of the Lithuanian Republic entered into force on 1 January, 1997, the works have been financed from the Road Fund. Every year the Lithuanian Government approves the estimate of the Road Fund. Following the above mentioned Law and Regulations issued by the Government, the Road Fund is made up of the deductions of the realized income of subjects, excise on petrol, lubricants, diesel fuel and fuel. Furthermore, a small part of the Road Fund is collected from the taxes of vehicle owners for using trucks, and other taxation sources.

With the rapid increase in the number of vehicles, freight transport and traffic intensity, and especially with the considerable increase in the number of trucks, the roads are damaged and their weariness is accelerated. The existing Road Fund is not sufficient for covering the costs of work performance. There are no possibilities to construct by-passes, to lay asphalt on the roads in the settlements, moreover, the condition of gravel roads is a burning problem in our road network economy. Asphalt pavements are not repaired in time: there is a 240 km difference in the standard repair period every year, and only 13% of the total gravel road network is repaired every year.

Picture 4:
A view of the Lithuanian network.

During the transitional period to market economy, with the absence of reliable building materials, mechanisms and stable cost of working power, the distribution of road construction and repair works to contractors was arranged under bidding procedures. The first specifications on the tenders were prepared and approved by the Lithuanian Road Administration in January, 1993. In August, 1996 the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the Public Procurement Law which entered into force on January, 1997. At present almost all road construction and repair works are distributed for contractors through the bidding procedure.

The first tender following the international requirements was arranged in 1996 for the Marijampole-Kalvarijos border crossing. Six international tenders were arranged following the Via Baltica and Highway Projects in 1997. It should be pointed out that successful bidders in all these international tenders were local contractors.

INFORMATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INVESTMENT PROJECTS

Loan agreement between the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the Lithuanian Road Administration concerning the Transport Project was signed on September 26,1994. The loan redemption period commences in 1997 and expires in 2009. The implementation of the Project was started and completed in 1996. The western Panevezys by-pass was constructed, 138,2 km of road pavement were strengthened, road maintenance and research equipment was purchased. The total estimate of Transport project makes up 13.8 million USD.

Contracts with EBRD concerning the financing of Via Baltica and Highway Project were signed in 1995. Loan redemption period commences in 2001 and expires in 2016. The total Via Baltica project estimate makes up 75.5 million USD and Highway project 31.7 million USD.

This year tenders took place and 23 contracts were signed for the sum of 31.6 million USD. Also one contract for purchasing road maintenance equipment for the sum of 1.1 million USD was signed.

Tender documentation for 1998 is being prepared now. The main works are as follows:

  • construction of the new road section between Mauruciai and Puskelniai - 29,5 km;
  • construction of the new road between Kedainiai and Kaunas (Kedainiai by-pass included) - 34 km;
  • Vilnius - Kaunas motorngay pavement strengthening, traffic safety measure implementation. The implementation of the Highway Project is planred to be completed in 1999, and Via Baltica in 2000.

(Abridgement of the paper of Gintaras Striaukas, Director General of the Lithuanian Road Administration.)

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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN THE BALTIC REGION; EXPERIENCES FROM THE WORK DONE IN FINNT2 AND WIN

The paper will summarize experiences gained with the cooperative efforts taken by the Baltic States Road Administrations, the Finnish Road Administration and the Federal Highway Administration of USA for the establishment of EstT2, LatT2, LitT2 and FinnT2. Furthermore, it will deal with the World Interchange Network (WIN). The history of the Baltic and Finnish road and traffic technology transfer cooperation shows in its own way the meaning and importance of the idea behind the evolution of the World Interchange Network.

There are weaknesses in the know-how of modern road and traffic related technology as well as problems in getting the appropriate know-how to the organisations and transfer it to the people who finally are responsible for the practical operations.

Picture 5:
Cooperational meeting in P�rnu between the Finnish and Estonian Road Administrations. From left: Lasse Weckstr�m, Jukka Torniainen and Riho S�rmus.

Picture 6:
The exhibition stand of the Lithuanian Road Administration with Jarmo Ikonen and Benjamina Valeckait� discussing importart technology transfer issues.

Picture 7:
Finn TZ exhibition stand with, from right, Raivo Vare, Minister of Transport of Estonia, Riho S�rmus and Arto Tevaj�rvi.

The establishment of road and traffic technology transfer centers in the road administrations and research centers will entrance and speed up the understanding and transfer of western road technology to developing countries and countries in transition. It will also improve the skills of road and traffic personnel both in public organisations and in the private sector. After completing the technology transfer centers around the world the relevant technology will find its way to people with problems through answers, training, technical assistance, demonstrations, regional seminars within the network and organisations gradually starting to help themselves.

FINNT2- BALTIC COOPERATION

The Finnish Technology Transfer Center (FinnT2), established in 1993 and its office being located in the Finnish National Road Administration (Finnra), acts as the WIN regional international node in the Baltic Sea region. The Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian T2Centers work in partnership with FinnT2. More specifically, FinnT7 is a co-organisation for international and domestic technology transfer in the road sector. It also serves as a communication forum between organisations, people and cultures in the road sector. Furthermore, it creates opportunities for international and domestic joint projects with finest expertise and know-how. Shortly, FinnT2 provides knowledge services based on the business idea of WIN.

In consequence of the memorandum of understanding on highway transportation technology exchange between Finnra and the Federal Highway Administration, USA, FinnT2 works in close cooperation with the U.S. technology transfer centers.

Some examples of the activities carried out by FinnT2, or jointly with the FHWA, in the technology transfer cooperation with the Baltic T2 Centers: See the paper FinnT2 Successful in Technology Transfer World-Wide of Jarmo Ikonen, Executive Director of FinnT2, given in the WIN Seminar on Road and Traffic Technology Transfer in Helsinki, Finland, in May, 1996. The paper was published as abridged in FinnContact, issue No.2/June, 1996.

From 4 years of experience in the Baltic T2 cooperation we have learned at least the following:

  • It is shown how importart the proper technology and skilled personnel in all levels of the organisation are for the managing of the road and traffic networks efficiently. It should also be noticed that, however, there are weaknesses in the know-how of modern road and traffic related technology as well as problems in getting the appropriate know-how to the organisations and transfer it to the people who are finally responsible for the practical operations.
  • The human contact development should be emphasized as the first priority in the technology transfer instead of creating a modern electronic communication network. We should learn from failures as well as from success stories. Very high quality of listening and to remember the local specificities are the keys for T2 effectiveness.

WORLD INTERCHANGE NETWORK - WIN

As it was registered in Quebec in July 1995, the World Interchange Network was granted its Letter of Patent which state its legal personality as a non-profit organisation, using the trilingual business name Res�au mondial d'�changes, World Interchange Network and Red Mundial de Intercambios. Its Board of Directors was appointed, a Permanent Secretariat was set up, and the Network started to operate officially from the XX World Road Congress of PIARC in Montreal in September l995.

The initial Casablanca Declaration of Intent had inspired the expression of the actual WIN objective that reads as follows: A non-profit organisation with no intention of pecuniary gain for its members, working in close harmony with PIARC and using local, national, international and global networks, the World Interchange network puts persons with road-related questions in contact with those who can provide answers.

At present (August, 1997) the number of nodes in WIN totals up to 59 in 32 different countries and there are altogether 132 person members in the WIN General Assembly.

Different tools and techniques for technology transfer are being introduced all the time. When introducing today's tools like the use of internet (where WlN's site address is http://www.rme-win-rmi.qc.ca) we must remember that not all of us are able to use those tools. That is why we have to promote the use of simple tools, as well.

Progress was made in the WIN Helsinki Seminar in 1996 in creating closer cooperation efforts between international bodies like the World Bank, PIARC, OECD, WIN and EU. All parties stressed their willingness to support closer cooperation and more active participation in technology transfer through WIN. It was envisaged that eventually also OECD, PIARC, WB and EU will become nodes to the World Interchange Network. Today all but the World Bank has joined WIN either as a node or as a member or both. I am sure that very soon the WB people also will understand the true meaning and idea of WIN and their resistance will come to an end. It is not a technology transfer problem with WB but a communicational one!

(Abridgement of the paper of Raimo Tapio, Deputy Director of Finnra)

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TRANSFER MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE INTO PRACTICE IN ESTONIAN ROADS

During last five-six years there has occurred big changes in the technology used by road construction and maintenance agencies of Estonia. In the late 80's and early 90's the dominating road improvement technology was the pothole patching and crack filling and putting new asphalt overlay on top. Some of these sections were also chip-sealed to protect the layer from weather. Majority of maintenance works was done also by pothole patching and full width chip sealing of pavements. In winter maintenance there was extensively used salt and sand mix for snow removal. At the early 90's, when our borders were opened for the communication between Estonia and other countries for the communication on the personal level as well as for the exchange of the information started, step by step, introduction of advanced road technology into our road industry.

About at the same time - in 1992 - was established the Technical Center of Estonian Road Administration. It was established on the base of the Central Laboratory of Roads, responsibility of which was only testing of road materials and research. Responsibilities of the Technical Center are much wider - besides the research and testing - the duties of TC are training of road engineers and workers, road design, road survey and monitoring (bearing capacity, traffic counting, road weather stations) and collection and distribution of the information related to the road industry. In the beginning I told about the road repair technology which was gradually changed from simply adding a new overlay to the more economic technology: reuse the old material and make the first layer as a stabilized course with milled old material together with new aggregate and binder. That can be used as a good example of transferring new technology into our practice. The first information of that technology was got by our managers and engineers during study tours into neighbouring countries, mainly into Finland. At the same time the Technology Transfer Network started to develop between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and USA. The Technical Center became the member of this network as the Technology Transfer Center for Estonian Road Administration.

Picture 8:
Finnish-Estonian technology transfer in practice: Rehabilitation of the Vardi Bridge according to the Finnish bridge repair standards. The bridge is located on the Main Road Tallin-P�rnu and was inaugurated the day before the BRC Conference.

Accordingly, a very wide range of the technological information became available for us. I also mentioned the very good cooperation between the Estonian and Finnish Road Administrations. Linking both into the network of technology transfer centers made it even more practical and active. The Federal Highway Administration of USA made for us possible the contacts with Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association (ARRA).

In 1994 started a World Bank loan project for rehabilitation of Estonian roads. It was implemented in 1995/96 and gave us additional financing to use advanced technology. Technical Center was the institution where the projects were designed. We also made laboratory control of works and coordinated and provided the training of the supervising staff. Together with working on the specifications we started also our own training program to give road agencies more information about the technology. The audience consists of district managers, their deputies and supervisors.

The description above is just one example on how our Technical Center fulfills its task to make the adoption of new technology into our practice easier. There are many other areas where the steps of technology transfer are similar to those I described.

One tool we have to make better serve our customers - road agencies and contractorsis - is our Information Department. This is the first place where people, interested in a certain question, go to ask. Besides having a library of road related literature and videolibrary together with Internet connection, there is also access to World Interchange Network (WIN) in the ID. WIN gives us possibility to get the most advanced and recent information of the road technology and industry. Those are kinds of passive methods of technology transfer we use. There are also methods to promote new technology in a way called "active". Our Information Department uses a quarterly newsletter called "Teeleht" for this purpose.

To conclude my paper I would like to sum up the focal points we have found to be true in our activities:

  • adoption of new technology is based on the extensive collection of the information and data
  • it is very importart to convince the top management that new technology is needed
  • in the case of failure it must be found out, if the technology really does not fit into the Estonian conditions or if the application was incorrect
  • there are two ways of technology transfer - "active" and "passive" - and the use of those must be balanced
  • new technology must be effective for the organization: implementation expenses must not be too high compared to the benefits got.

(Abridgement of the paper of Hillar Varik, Director of the Tecnical Center of the Estonian Road Administration.)

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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN LITHUANIA

INTRODUCTION

Today we live in a world that is geographically, culturally and economically diverse - yet the power of communications has exposed most of the world to its neighbors, both near and far. Nations are no longer isolated and, like so many facets of life today, transportation and better methods of transport are in demand by all. Thus, transportation technology transfer is truly a global enterprise.

The basic idea of technology transfer is to bring people with problems to people with answers, to help excharge information and world's best practice, to transfer the technology from problem identification to a successful implementation, to transfer information about new transportation technology in a manner which is easily understood and implementable.

The development of information and communication technology means that there are excellent opportunities for building contact networks all over the world in order to assist people involved in the road management to solve actual problems in their activities. After the restoration of Lithuanian independence, one of the primary tasks was to join the world technology market.

LITHUANIAN TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER CENTER ACTIVITIES

A Technology Transfer Seminar in Helsinki was held in 1993 among the Baltic States, the Finnish Road Administration and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the USA. As a conclusion it was stated in the semipar that Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Road Administrations will each establish a T2 Center within their organization. It was decided, that there cannot be just one model of the T2 center, everybody has to take into account local conditions and needs and develop their center according to them. For Lithuanian situation it was decided to locate the Lithuanian T2 Center within TRRI (Transport and Road Research Institute). The foundation of LitT2 Center was helped by FinnT2 and supported by the U.S. FHWA. We are sincerely grateful to the FHWA and FinnT2 for their help in creating this center. LitT2 is financed by the Lithuanian Road Administration and, therefore, the main activities are directed to the personnel of the Lithuanian Road Administration. LitT2 has been operating almost for full 4 years. It can in a few words be characterized as a period of settled operation of LitT7 and its office, as well as strengthening of the relations with the American and FinnT2 Centers and local authorities.

The main objectives of the LitT2 Center are information excharge and training. It is very importart to find the best ways to introduce the information available in our center or from abroad to potential clients. We arrange seminars about research results concerning work done by TRRI. We arrange training courses or seminars in cooperation with foreign Road Administrations. It is very importart to prepare very carefully those seminars and courses. A course can just be wasting of time if simple theoretical things that we already know are explained. Our engineers are professional as anyone, but they simply have not always the same opportunities and options as those in the industrialized world.

Picture 9:
Connections of the Lithuanian Technology Transfer Center.

Also, we start to offer more widely services to organizations outside the Lithuanian Road Administration, such as the Lithuanian Road Builders Association (LRBA) and universities. LRBA comprises 10 main Lithuanian road and bridge enterprises. �specially contractors have been a very interested audience - they are interested in a wide range of practical training and seminars. Besides these, they are interested in contacts with contractors from other countries. Especially, very useful exchange programs exist. Almost every year we have engineer exchange programs in the United States. In 1996, one of our engineers visited BASF in Germany, last spring a small group of our engineers visited Finland in meny work sites and organizations. The visit was arranged thanks to our contacts within the T2 network and we would like to expand this type of knowledge exchange as well. I do not mean only American or Finnish contacts but also contacts with the Baltic countries and other European countries.

During the last years the Lithuanian T2 Center has confirmed itself as a road transport technology knowledge center in Lithuania and created sufficiently good conditions for work. Our objective is to join the main road organizations in the world and make our center a part of the world network in road transport technology exchange. In our opinion, we are ready for it.

(Abridgement of the paper of Benjamina Valeckait�, Head of the Lithuanian Technology Transfer Center.)

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