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The ROADEX Project is a collaboration of northern European roads organisations from Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Scotland and Sweden brought together with the aim of improving the condition of their rural road networks, and rural roads generally.



The project started as a European Union pilot in 1998 and over the intervening period, and co-operations, has grown into a centre of information for all things concerning the management of sustainable rural roads. As of 2019 the project website is averaging over 5,000 hits per month from around the world seeking information and solutions for rural roads.

The outputs of the collaboration were recognised by a European Union RegioStars special mention. and more recently ROADEX strategies and technologies were recognised internationally in a 2018 Global Road Achievement Award by the International Road Federation for ″Asset Preservation and Maintenance Management″

ROADEX Partner organisations
The ROADEX Network currently consists of 13 partners from 6 countries comprising 6 national roads administrations, a government department, 3 government agencies, 2 local authorities and a roads district.

A brief history of the project and its evolution is set out below.

The ROADEX Pilot project, 1998-2001
The aim of the EU Pilot ROADEX project was to create a northern European forum for the exchange of information on low volume rural roads. (ROADs Information EXchange = ROADEX).

These roads are vital arteries for the local communities they serve, as well as being major transportation routes for their internationally important timber and fishing industries. The four Partners areas of the co-operation were Finnish Lapland, Troms County of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, the Northern Region of The Swedish National Road Administration and the Highland Council of Scotland.

The Pilot co-operation was 50% funded by the European Union and 50% by the partner road districts, and additionally received support from The Scottish Executive and The Icelandic Road Administration.

With the success of the pilot co-operation the partners agreed to commit themselves to a further collaboration.

ROADEX II, 2002-2005
The ROADEX II co-operation was a new 3 year collaboration, again part-funded by the EU, to develop ways for innovative road management of rural roads. It built on the networks created during the successful Article 10 ROADEX co-operation with additional inputs from local industry involving heavy road haulage to improve roads service provision across the area.

The four original Partners in the co-operation were joined by two new partners from Scotland: Forest Enterprise of Scotland and Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar as well as a number of Associate Partners. These were: The Norwegian Hauliers Association, The Finnish Road Administration, Lapland District, Metsähallitus Forestry, Stora Enso Metsä, Metsäliitto Osuukunta, and The Forestry Centre of Lapland. The involvement of these Partners from the forestry and forest products industry brought extensive experience of gravel road technology to the Partnership and permitted the co-operation to consider community roads in the widest possible context.

The formal outputs of the co-operation included a DVD Focussing on low volume roads in the Northern Periphery and 11 technical reports concerning the management and maintenance of low volume roads.

ROADEX III, 2006-2007
ROADEX III aimed to disseminate and implement the roads management strategies, practices and innovation gathered under the previous projects. This was done through a range of methods including producing executive summaries of ROADEX outputs in the various partner languages; presentations at conferences, seminars, workshops; training packages, web based information; and further pilot trials of prototype solutions on the rural road networks of the Partner areas.

The six partners from ROADEX II were joined by five new partners: The Icelandic Road Administration, The Swedish Forest Agency, The Department of Transport and The National Roads Authority from Ireland, and The Municipality of Sisimiut of the Greenland Home Rule Government. The Swedish Board of Forestry, Dalarna/Gävleborg and The Association of Regional Road Authorities (RADOR), Russia joined as Associate Partners.

The formal outputs of the co-operation included 3 DVDs and 14 technical reports on the management and maintenance of low volume roads.

At the conclusion of the project The Northern Periphery Programme recommended the ROADEX co-operation for a RegioStars award in 2009. At the award ceremony the co-operation received a special mention from the RegioStars 2009 Jury.

ROADEX IV, 2009-2012
This Fourth EU part-funded ROADEX co-operation   set out to demonstrate what was possible using the new ROADEX technologies.

Demonstrations of the ROADEX methods were carried out in the local Partner areas supported by a new pan-regional ROADEX Consultancy Service and Knowledge Centre. Joint research and development also continued in the areas of climate change, road widening and the health issues that can arise from poorly maintained roads.

The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) and Coillte of Ireland contributed to the co-operation as Associate Partners.

Each demonstration project was followed up by a fully referenced technical report published on the ROADEX website. These continue to be available free of charge to all. In all over 30 technical reports were published. Typically these reports covered roads related issues such as drainage analysis techniques across different countries and road landscapes, demonstrations of state-of-the-art road rehabilitations and widening, condition surveys and rehabilitation proposals for forest roads, as well as a summary report on the benefits & savings that could be accrued using ROADEX strategies and technologies.

The EU part-funding of the ROADEX co-operations ended in 2012 at which point the Partners committed themselves to jointly self-fund a ROADEX Network to permit continued information sharing and research.

ROADEX E-learning
A major output for the ROADEX IV Project was the web-based e-learning suite of four e-learning lessons.


 * Drainage of roads
 * Causes and solutions for deformations in roads
 * Road construction over peat
 * Environmental considerations for roads

These lessons summarise the ROADEX research I the respective areas and have been designed to help learning in the workplace and in academic institutions. All four are available in the main partner languages to encourage dissemination and implementation.

As of 2019 the project website is averaging over 5,000 users per month from around the world seeking information and solutions, including such countries as India (18%), USA (13%), Philippines (8%), Malaysia (5%), Nigeria (5%).

The ROADEX Network
The present ROADEX Network commenced in 1012 and aims to continue the close working on rural roads between Partners. This includes keeping the ROADEX website, knowledge centre, e-learning and reports live and up-to-date, as well as continuing to carry out joint research in areas of common interest.

The 13 continuing partner organizations are: Transport Scotland, The Highland Council, Forestry Commission Scotland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar; the Northern Region of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration; the Northern Region of the Swedish National Road Administration and the Swedish Forest Agency; the Lapland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment; The Finnish Transport Agency, The Icelandic Road Administration; The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport, The Road Management Office and The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine from Ireland.

From the outset the Network Secretariat was tasked with continuing the legacy of the ROADEX co-operations: the website, knowledge centre, e-learning packages, co-operation outputs, technical reports and others. Its aim was to move the ROADEX collaboration further to continue to promote the application of state-of-the-art strategies and technologies in low volume road management.

The Partners aim to have one physical steering committee meeting and one Skype steering committee meeting per year with the physical meeting ideally being held in conjunction with an annual conference or workshop in the chosen partner area. These meetings monitor the dissemination of the ROADEX strategies & technologies and receive information on how ROADEX results are being implemented by the partner areas. Round-table discussions and work sessions are arranged on topics to be selected by the partners to facilitate in-depth exchange of ideas and experiences.

Recent noteworthy projects involving technologies developed by the ROADEX Network include: research into the effects of the new generations of heavy trucks on asphalt pavement lifetimes; the Pajala Mine Road in Sweden (2013); the PEHKO   2015-2025 project in Finland.

The PEHKO Project
The PEHKO Project is the first full test and assessment of ROADEX strategies and technologies on a live public road network. The Finnish Transport Agency originally commissioned the project in 2015 on two tests areas the Kemi-Tornio and Karstula road networks to take place over the 10 year period to 2025, and extended the brief to the Uusimaa area outside Helsinki in 2018.



The project involves using ROADEX state-of-the-art surveys and analyses to formulate a maintenance plan for the test areas with the aim of reducing maintenance costs, whilst at the same time improving the overall condition. The key operations being carried out in the areas are improved drainage maintenance, pro-active snow removal and targeted rehabilitations focussed only those road sections that need action and not on lengthy standard solutions. Early results in 2016 have already shown clear benefits in the new ROADEX strategies over the former practices.

Such has been the success of the PEHKO project, and the potential operational savings it offers, that it was awarded the 2018 Global Road Achievement Award for ″Asset Preservation and Maintenance Management″ by the International Road Federation. The PEHKO Project and ROADEX technologies continue to publish results internationally