Nordic Road and Transport Research 3-2000

No 3 · 2000 News from Denmark, F inland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

International co-operation projects:EU – Pollution in soil and groundwater along roads p. 4Russia – Harmonisation of road standards p.20Ghana – Driver training programme p.22

Danish Road Directorate (DRD)The Road Directorate, which is a part of The Ministry of Trans-

port, Denmark, is responsible for development and management

of the national highways and for servicing and facilitating traffic

on the network. As part of this responsibility, the Directorate

conducts R&D, the aim of which is to contribute to efficient road

management and to the safe use of the network. The materials

research component is carried out by the Danish Road Institute

while other R&D activities – primarily safety and environmen-

tal research – are carried out by the Directorate’s operational

departments.

Technical Research Centre of Finland(VTT), Communities and InfrastructureCommunities and Infrastructure, employing a staff of 175, is one

of the nine Operating Units of the Technical Research Centre of

Finland (VTT), which has a total staff of 3,000. Research at this

Operating Unit covers all aspects of transport, road engineering,

geotechnology and urban planning. The unit has active inter-

national relations and a prominent role in these research areas on

the national level.

Public Roads Administration (PRA),IcelandThe duty of PRA is to provide society with a road system

according to its needs and to offer service aiming at safe,

unobstructed traffic. The number of employees is about 340.

Applied research concerning road construction, maintenance and

traffic and safety is to some extent performed or directed by the

PRA. The authority with its Research and Development division

is responsible for road research in Iceland.

Norwegian Public RoadsAdministration (NPRA)The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is one of the

administrative agencies under the Ministry of Transport and

Communications in Norway. The NPRA is responsible for the

development and management of public roads and road

traffic, as well as the Vehicle Department. This responsibility

includes research and development of all areas related to road

transport, and the application of R&D products.

Institute of Transport Economics (TØI)The Institute of Transport Economics is the national institution

for transport research and development in Norway. The main

objectives of the Institute are to carry out applied research and

promote the application and use of results through consultative

assistance to public authorities, the transport industry and others.

The Institute is an independent research foundation employing

about one hundred persons.

The Swedish National Road andTransport Research Institute (VTI)is responsible for research and development in road construction,

maintenance, road traffic and transport, railroads, rail transport,

vehicles, road user behaviour, traffic safety and the environment.

The Institute is state-owned and has a total of 215 employees.

Volume 12 · No. 3 · December 2000

Editorial notesNordic Road & Transport Research is ajoint publication of six public road andtransport research organisations in theNordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Ice-land, Norway, and Sweden. The mainobjective of the publication is to dis-seminate research results and news fromthe institutions, especially to researchersand decision makers. Each institution isresponsible for the selection and presenta-tion of the material from its own scope ofactivities.

Nordic Road & Transport Research ispublished three times a year. It is regularlysent out, free of charge, to recipients se-lected by the five joint publishers. Freesample copies are also sent out on specialrequest.

Reproduction and quotation of the textare allowed if reference is made to theauthor and source. However, legislationregulates and restricts the right to repro-duce the illustrations. Please contact therespective publishing institution for infor-mation.

Advertising is not accepted.Correspondence about the contents of

the publication:Please write to the author or to the

respective publishing organisation.Requests for back issues, and notification

of address changes:Readers outside the Nordic countries:

please write to the Editor-in-chief at the VTIin Sweden.

Readers in the Nordic countries: pleasecontact the publishing institution of yourcountry.

Addresses: see back cover.

The Editorial Board consistsof the following representativesof the publishing institutions.

Editor-in-ChiefSigvard Tim, Swedish National Roadand Transport Research InstituteDenmarkHelen Hasz-Singh, Danish Road InstituteFinlandKari Mäkelä, Technical Research Centreof Finland, Communities and Infrastruc-tureIcelandHreinn Haraldsson, Public RoadsAdministrationNorwayHelge Holte, NorwegianPublic Roads AdministrationHarald Aas, Institute of TransportEconomics

Production: VTI InformationPlace of publication: Linköping, SwedenIssue: 3,500ISSN: 1101-5179

Cover Photo: Jonas Ekströmer, Pressens Bild

C O N T E N T S

Danish Road Directorate (DRD) ............................................................................................................. 24

Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Communities and Infrastructure) ............... 25

Institute of Transport Economics (TØI) ................................................................................................ 26

Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) ............................................. 30

A N N O T A T E D R E P O R T S

Examination of pollution in soil and water along roads ...................... 4Danish Road Directorate (DRD)

Rutting and weathering characteristics of Danish asphalt pavements .. 7Danish Road Directorate (DRD)

Preventing the blistering of bridge deck waterproofing ..................... 10Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Communities and Infrastructure

Promoting safe walking and cycling ................................................. 12Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Communities and Infrastructure

Strengthening with carbon fibres ...................................................... 16Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA)

VTI supports better roads in Russia ................................................... 20Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)

Driver training programme in Ghana ................................................ 22Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)

NORDIC ROAD & TRANSPORT RESEARCH NO. 3 · 20004

DANISH ROAD DIRECTORATE (DRD)

During recent years, more emphasis

has been put on the assessment of

the environmental impact caused by

roads and traffic, and especially on

the pollution of the soil and water

near roads. This article gives a

description of the method used and

some results and preliminary

conclusions from studies at two sites

in Denmark.

The Road Directorate in Denmark has

evaluated in its environmental strategy

from 1996 that there is a need to gain

more knowledge and therefore a number

of projects have been started in order to

throw light on the influence of roads on

the environment.

One of these projects called Environ-

mental Monitoring has examined the

amount of pollution at areas near a road

(water and soil) by establishing two en-

vironmental study sites along the motor-

way network in Denmark.

The Road Directorate is also participat-

ing in the EU-project “POLMIT - Pollu-

tion of Groundwater and Soil by Road and

Traffic Sources: dispersal mechanisms,

pathways and mitigation measures”, in

which seven countries participate.

Parameters/polluting compounds

Which polluting compounds can be found

in soil and water as a result of roads and

traffic? Previously, there was a great deal

of focus on the heavy metal lead, which

was added to petrol. However, lead has

not been added to petrol in Denmark since

1994. Brakes, rust, paint, wear of tyres

and exhaust gasses contribute to remains

of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and

also some heavy metals in the environ-

ment. Maintenance of roads leads to

spread of de-icing salts during winter and

traffic itself rubs some of the asphalt lay-

ers off the road surface, which are spread

to the surrounding areas.

In the POLMIT project and from the

samples of the Danish environmental

field sites, it was decided to make analy-

ses of the substances shown in table 1:

Choice of locality

17 possible localities were inspected and

screened during the summer and autumn

of 1997.

Based on the data found during the

screening and the criteria established, it

was decided to choose the localities on

taken from both sides of the road.

Several methods of collecting run-off

from the road were discussed. At each

field site, the run-off was caught by a

gutter which was 1 meter in length and 15

cm in width; the gutter was placed along-

side the asphalt edge dug into the top layer

of the soil (figure 2). The gutter was sepa-

rated into 10 sections and the water from

each of these sections was collected into

Examination of pollution in soil andwater along roads

two motorways at Vejenbrod (Zealand)

and Rud (Jutland).

Instrumentation of field sites

At the Danish field sites, all samples were

taken on the eastern side of the road, since

the prevailing direction of the wind is from

the west. The only exception was collec-

tion of groundwater, where samples were

Metals Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb, Zn, Ca, K, Mg and NaAnions Cl– and SO4

–

Organic parameters PAH, NVOC and THCVarious Suspended substances

Table 1: Parameters which are determined in the the Danish field study sites.

a bottle with a volume of 25 litre. Repre-

sentative samples were taken from each

bottle, the samples were mixed and ana-

lysed every month.

At four different distances from the

road pavement, samples were collected,

including splash from the road and rain

precipitation in a total deposition sampler

(figure 3). The total deposition sampler

consists of four gutters which had an area

of 0.016 m2, where the total precipitation

(wet/dry) was led into a collection bottle

which was dug into the ground. The

equipment has been used successfully in

the Netherlands.

Furthermore, in two positions 3 and 6

meters from the edge of the road samples

of the soil solution at a depth of 35 cm was

taken with an equipment produced in

Denmark (Prenard). The equipment con-

sists of a porous cup situated above

ground level which sucks soil solution

with the aid of a mechanical water pump,

and in that way continuously takes sam-

ples of soil solution.

On both sides of the road, groundwater

pipes were installed to take samples of the

secondary groundwater which at the Dan-

ish sites was found two to three meters

below the surface.Figure 1: Placing of the two Danish environ-

mental field sites.

NORDIC ROAD & TRANSPORT RESEARCH NO. 3 · 2000 5


Figure 2: Run-off sampler Figure 3: Total deposition sampler

Apart from the equipment mentioned

above, a rain gauge was installed at each

field site. It was connected to a data log-

ger which registered rain continuously. For

the sake of comparison, data was also col-

lected from the nearest weather station of

the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Results

This article presents a summary of the Dan-

ish data. All the results from the Danish

study sites will be given in the final report

from the POLMIT project, where the re-

sults from the other countries also will be

available.

Run-offFor the samples of run-off, conductivity was

measured. Figure 4 shows a graphic pres-

entation of the conductivity as a function

of time. A considerable increase can be

noted for both field sites during the winter

period, which is due to the use of de-icing

salt in Denmark. The amount of de-icing

salt used at the sites was almost identical

during the winter 98/99. The responsible

authorities state that at Vejenbrod approx.

14 kg/m2 was spread and at Rud 12 kg/m2.

Table 2 shows some of the parameters from

the examination of run-off from Vejenbrod.

The results from Rud show the same ten-

dency, however the level of some of the

parameters is different.

Total deposition

When analysing the samples from the total

deposition samplers, a corresponding in-

crease in conductivity can be seen for sam-

plers situated three meters from the road in

the period where salting takes place. In gen-

eral, the concentrations are low; however,

the concentration of zinc is high at both

sites.

made further analyses of organic com-

pounds possible.

Soil solutionIn the samples sucked up from a depth of

0.35 m, a considerable difference can be

There was only little water in the sam-

pler at Rud and it was therefore only possi-

ble to make a few analyses of the organic

parameters. The concentrations found from

the analyses are very low. The greater

amounts of water collected at Vejenbrod

Figure 4: Conductivity of road run-off as a function of time

Zn, Pb, Cl-, Sum NVOC, THC,µg/l µg/l µg/l PAH, µg/l µg/l

µg/l

Jul 69 8 3 <0.22 10,000 4,900Aug 75 8 4 <0.22 11,000 4,700Sep 68 9 5 <0.22 7,100 5,000Oct 47 12 4 <0.21 7,000 3,900Nov 455 11 1.500 <0.36 12,000 5,500Dec 144 18 2.500 <0.84 34,000 12,000Jan 210 25 1.500 2.0 25,000 12,000Feb 330 46 3.700 3.6 49,000 19,000Mar 170 21 1.200 2.5 30,000 8,400Apr 75 13 210 <0.42 21,000 1,100Maj 52 8 17 2.5 23,000 680Jun 180 29 5 2.0 31,000 1,200

Table 2: Summary of the analysis results from run-off, Vejenbrod.

25 000

20 000

15 000

10 000

5 000

0

Jul 98 Oct 98 Jan 99 Apr 99 Jul 99

Vejenbrod

Rud

Conductivity, run-off



Figure 5: Contents of chlorides in the groundwater

noted between the two sites as regards

conductivity. At Vejenbrod the sample

closest to the road (three meters from the

asphaltic edge) shows a considerable in-

crease during the winter, whereas the

samples six meters from the edge is reg-

istered with a constant level. The increase

in conductivity during the winter is not

nearly as pronounced at the site at Rud.

The concentration of chlorides is also

lower there than at Vejenbrod.

It applies for both sites that the concen-

tration of other parameters is low; how-

ever there is an increased content of To-

tal Hyd-ro Carbolic (THC) at Vejenbrod.

This can be explained by the fact that

there is a higher content of THC for the

total deposition.

Groundwater

The results of the analyses of the

groundwater from both sites show a

higher content of sodium and chloride in

the samples on the downstream side than

for the other side of the road. The down-

stream side was at both sites the eastern

side of the road. The values for chloride

are higher than for typical values found

in groundwater in Denmark. There were

no differences in the concentration of

chlorides from the two sites. Figure 5

shows the variation of chloride concen-

trations for the period.

At the site at Vejenbrod there is a high

content of THC in the first sample,

whereas there is a high content of heavy

metals at the site at Rud from the first

sample. This is not found again and may

be due to disturbances of the soil during

the installation of the pipes.

Soil samples

Soil samples were only taken once dur-

ing the project. The results represent an

accumulation throughout the period while

the roads have been trafficked; for

Vejenbrod 25 years, for Rud 4 years.

The level in the soil samples from Rud

is within the interval which can be ex-

pected in normal undisturbed Danish soil,

whereas it is quite clear that the concen-

trations in the soil samples from

Vejenbrod are very high. This difference

can be explained by the fact that the study

site at Vejenbrod has been exposed to in-

fluence from traffic for 25 years whereas

the motorway in Rud was opened four

years ago.

Conclusion and discussion

As expected, the analyses of inorganic pa-

rameters show that there are high concen-

trations of sodium and chloride in the run-

off and soil solution close to the road (3

meters) during the winter, when de-icing

salts are used.

The presence of chloride can cause a

washing of heavy metals from the soil,

since the chloride ions can form com-

plexes with heavy metals. It is however,

not possible to document this effect, since

the concentrations of heavy metals found

in the soil solution and groundwater sam-

ples is very low.

The analyses show that concentrations

of heavy metals in water samples from

soil solution and groundwater samples are

low, but it is seen that the zinc content in

the water samples from both stations ex-

ceed the requirement for drinking water

in Denmark. The concentrations of the

metals examined show a tendency that

they are higher during the winter.

The results of the soil samples at Rud

are on level with unpolluted soil samples

in Denmark. There is no influence from

the traffic or the road. The analysis results

for soil samples at Vejenbrod, after 25

years of accumulation of low soluble

compounds show much higher values -

the closer to the road, the higher the val-

ues.

By choosing two field sites with differ-

ent ages, as was the case, it is confirmed

that there is an increased concentration of

heavy metals and organic matter (PAH,

NVOH and THC) as a function of the to-

tal traffic volume. Various initiatives,

such as use of unleaded petrol and the re-

quirement of catalyst in new vehicles,

have had a positive effect in the wish to

reduce pollution.

In a way it can be seen that the great-

est influence of the soil and water from the

road and traffic is due to de-icing salt in

winter.

The results of the study sites show that

spreading of pollution from traffic and

roads is on a low level. On the other hand,

an accumulation of contaminating com-

pounds near the roads and also a spread

of pollution near the roads can be found

to such an extent, that mitigation must be

considered. Continuation of measure-

ments must be considered.

This article is a summary of a lecture

given at the 24th International Road Con-

ference of the Baltic Road Council in Au-

gust 2000. The entire proceedings have

been published on a CD-ROM.

Article specielly written by Knud A. Pihl

([email protected]) and Jørn Raaberg ([email protected])

for Nordic Road & Transport Research.

The content af chloride, groundwater

500

400

300

200

100

0

mg/1

Jul – Oct – Jan – Apr –Sep Dec Mar Jun

Vejenbrod upstream

VejenbroddownstreamRud upstream

Rud downstream



A three-year research project was

commenced in 1998 at the Danish

Road Institute to establish a basis

for evaluating the rutting and

weathering resistance of Danish

asphalt pavements. Some results

were presented in two papers at the

Euraspalt & Eurobitumen Congress

in Barcelona in September 2000.

The abstracts of the two papers and

a brief discussion of the results are

given below.

ABSTRACT 1:

Examination of Rutting and Weather-

ing Characteristics of various Danish

Road Classes

The Danish road network is divided

into four classes: Motorways, main

roads, rural roads and local roads. In or-

der to optimise the lifetimes of the bitu-

minous surfacing in these road classes

economically, it is necessary to consider

the rutting and weathering resistance of

road pavements. Optimisation of rutting

resistance often results in a lean, stone

rich layer that is less weather resistant

than a bitumen rich layer. For low traf-

ficked roads it is therefore important to

optimise weathering resistance, whereas

for heavily trafficked roads, optimising

rutting resistance is more important.

Ten pavements were selected that

were due for overlaying and which suf-

fered from rutting generated mainly in

the bituminous layers. Cores were taken

from these pavements in and between the

wheel tracks. On the basis of their rut-

ting and weathering resistance a number

of laboratory tests were conducted to

determine whether these different bitu-

minous materials could be classified as

suitable surfacing materials for three

road classes. These laboratory tests in-

cluded material composition, stripping

and dynamic creep test on the samples

from the upper 10 to 18 cm of the sur-

facing in the selected pavements.

The ten road sections have been classified

according to their rutting properties based

on creep rate determined by dynamic creep

tests and their stripping properties based

on the voids filled with bitumen. It is dem-

onstrated that the resistance to stripping

and resistance to permanent deformation

of the asphalt materials were not always

optimised in relation to traffic load. By

performing a few simple tests of the in situ

asphalt materials, a more economically

viable solution can be ensured.

Classification of roadsTen road sections were selected, based

on the following road classes:

• 2 motorways (M):

ADT > 20,000 and EASELs >1,400.

• 7 main roads (MR):

6,000 < ADT < 12,000 and 300 <

EASELs < 1,300.

• 1 rural road (RR):

ADT < 4,000 and EASELs < 300.

Dynamic creep tests were performed ac-

cording to FAS method 468-97. It was de-

cided to perform dynamic creep tests of

the entire pavement construction of the

three to four upper asphalt layers corre-

sponding to a layer thickness of 10-18 cm.

Based on the results of the dynamic creep

tests, the road sections have been classi-

fied according to their rutting properties:

• Good resistance to permanent defor-

mation: Creep rate ≤ 2.0 µe/pulse for

motorways and heavily trafficked

main roads.

• Medium resistance to permanent de-

formation: 2.0 µe/pulse < creep rate

≤ 4.0 µe/pulse for main roads.

• Poor resistance to permanent defor-

mation: Creep rate > 4.0 µe/pulse for

rural roads.

The weathering resistance test is per-

formed by determining the Stiffness

Modulus of the individual layer of the

pavement samples (cores with a diameter

of 100 mm) before and after the test sam-

ples have been exposed to an accelerated

weathering procedure. The Stiffness

Modulus was determined by the Notting-

ham Asphalt Tester (NAT) according to

British Standard DD 213:1993.

The pavement materials have been

classified with regard to their weather-

ing resistance according to the amount of

voids filled with bitumen, as follows:

Rutting and weathering characteris-tics of Danish asphalt pavements

Figure 1. Classifications with regard to permanent deformation (creep rate) and

weathering resistance (voids filled with bitumen) for ten Danish asphalt pavements.


• Good resistance to stripping: voids

filled with bitumen > 80%.

• Medium resistance to stripping:

60%< voids filled with bitumen <

80%.

• Poor resistance to stripping: voids

filled with bitumen < 60%.

Classifications with regard to permanent

deformation (creep rate) and weathering

resistance (voids filled with bitumen) is

correlated (Figure 1, see page 7). The ru-

ral road section 608 has good rutting re-

sistance, but poor durability, which is not

optimal seen from an economic point of

view in relation to the actual traffic load.

The motorway section 11 has only me-

dium rutting resistance despite the fact

that the actual traffic load is consider-

ably higher. The main road sections 125,

332A and 152/614 has poor rutting re-

sistance and the pavements are not eco-

nomically viable.

It should however be mentioned that

the tests described in the paper regard-

ing the rutting and stripping properties

are not suitable for mix design, where

laboratory samples usually are used. The

tests described are relevant when an ex-

isting road pavement is due for repairing.

The tests could improve the evaluation

whether it would be economically prof-

itable if one or several asphalt layers

should be removed before overlaying.

ABSTRACT 2:

Estimation of Permanent Deformation

in Danish Motorway Pavements

The maintenance of hot rolled asphalt

(HRA) motorway pavements in Den-

mark is either performed as an overlay

with a rut resistant wearing course or by

milling the HRA and paving with a rut

resistant binder course before overlay-

ing. To decide which alternative is the

better, the potential risk of flow rutting

in the existing pavement is tested in the

Danish Asphalt Rut Tester (DART).

The question is whether the HRA

layer should be removed, or the resist-

ance to permanent deformation is suffi-

cient. If there is insufficient resistance to

permanent deformation the material

should be renewed at least over that re-

gion where the maximum shear stresses

occur in the pavement.

This is normally 50-100 mm below

the surface. By applying a new 40 mm

wearing course, the HRA layer would en-

ter this zone of maximum shear stresses

and there would thereby be a potential

risk of flow rutting.

The objective of the research was to

estimate the potential risk of flow rutting

in three types of Danish HRA motorway

pavements. One was overlaid without re-

moving the HRA layer, one was overlaid

after removing the HRA layer and pav-

ing with a binder course in both lanes,

and one was overlaid after removing the

HRA layer and paving with a binder

course only in the heavy traffic lane.

The paper presents the results of the

accelerated testing of 12 slabs with all

bound layers cut from the motorway

pavements. An empirical model to esti-

mate rutting in the motorway pavement

is suggested. Based on accelerated test-

ing in DART and measurements of in-

field ruts, the rutting level after 15 years

of service life is estimated.

It is demonstrated that removing the

HRA allows the traffic and/or the


Figure 2. Cutting of slabs for wheel-tracking tests in DART from the motorway M40 Kolding.



number of hot days to increase signifi-

cantly without any risk of flow rutting.

It is only economically advantageous to

remove the HRA when such increases in

traffic are expected. The accelerated test-

ing in DART has to be performed for

each type of pavement as differences in

pavement condition and material compo-

sition may influence the rut resistance of

the pavement significantly.

Calibration of DART wheel-tracking results

The Danish Profilograph routinely meas-

ures ruts in all Danish motorway and

main road pavements. For three motor-

way pavements, the mean rut depth in

both wheel tracks over 2 kilometres is

calculated including the position where

the slabs tested in DART were cut (Ta-

ble 1 and Figure 2).

During the wheel-tracking test in

DART the correlation between rut depth

and the number of loads is monitored.

The rut depth is estimated by a power

function. For each measured in-field rut,

it is possible to calculate an equivalent

number of loads in DART using the

power model. The number of equivalent

loads is much smaller than the actual in-

field number of loads as test conditions

(temperature and speed) in DART accel-

erates the formation of ruts.

The flow rutting over 15 years, which

is the expected lifetime of the wearing

course, is estimated using the power

function and the estimated number of

equivalent loads in 15 years (Table 2).

The number of equivalent loads might

not be constant over all 15 years, due to

increases in traffic or the number of hot

days. The maximum acceptable rut depth

given in the Danish Road Standards is 15

mm. It is therefore acceptable to increase

the number of equivalent loads to cause

an estimated maximum rut depth of 15

mm.

The number of times that the esti-

mated number of equivalent loads is per-

mitted to increase is defined as the Maxi-

mum Increase Factor (MIF). For in-

stance, a factor of 10 means that the

number of equivalent loads may be as

much as ten times higher, while devel-

oping the permissible maximum rut

depth after 15 years.

MIF is of value, as the number of

equivalent loads is estimated from only

a few years of in-field observations and

the number of equivalent loads might in-

crease considerably. The accuracy of the

estimation is evaluated from MIF and the

Motorway Light Traffic Lane Heavy Traffic Lane

Maint.Rut COV MIF Maint.Rut COV MIFAlt.1) mm % Alt.1) mm %

M40 Knudshoved2) A 6.9 5 4 A 17.1 4 0.8M30 Koege B 4.0 10 128 B 5.1 16 51M40 Kolding A 7.8 6 4 B 6.4 16 8M40 Kolding B 4.1 17 24 A 13.0 12 1.4

1) Alternative A: Overlaying without removing the HRA layerAlternative B: Overlaying after removing the HRA layer and paving withbinder course

2) Slabs tested at three different temperatures

coefficient of variation (COV) of the es-

timated depth of rutting. The COV is the

ratio between the estimated standard de-

viation and the mean value from the test

results for three slabs.

It has been demonstrated that mainte-

nance alternative B allows the number of

equivalent loads to increase significantly

without any risk of flow rutting, consid-

ering the accuracy of the estimation. It

is not always economically advanta-

geous to use maintenance alternative B,

as in some cases the risk of rutting is suf-

ficiently reduced with the cheaper alter-

native A. The accelerated testing in

DART has to be performed for each spe-

cific pavement type and estimations have

to be based on calibrations with in-field

rut measurements.

Table 2. Estimated Flow Rutting over 15 Years and the Accuracy of Estimation

Motorway Overlay Rut measurementsLight Traffic Lane Heavy Traffic LaneDate Rut, mm Date Rut, mm

M40 Knudshoved 15-06-1997 06-10-1999 2.3 12-10-1998 4.1M30 Koege 07-10-1998 09-09-1999 1.9 09-09-1999 2.4M40 Kolding 11-05-1999 20-09-1999 1.4 20-09-1999 1.4

Table 1. In-field Rut Measurements with the Danish Profilograph

References

Proceedings of the papers submitted for

review, 2nd Eurasphalt & Eurobitume

Congress, 20-22 September, 2000, Bar-

celona – Spain, Book 1 sessions 1 & 4:

1. Jørn Raaberg ([email protected]) and

Jeanne Rosenberg ([email protected]): Exami-

nation of Rutting and Weathering Char-

acteristics of various Danish Road

Classes, pp.689-696.

1. Weathering Characteristics of vari-

ous Danish Road Classes, pp.689-696.

2. Carsten Bredahl Nielsen

([email protected]): Estimation of Perma-

nent Deformation in Danish Motor-

way Pavements, pp. 589-557.


TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND (VTT), COMMUNITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Blistering is a delamination damage

of the bridge deck waterproofing

and it is caused by large fluctua-

tions of vapour pressure in the pore

spaces of the concrete layer under

the waterproofing. The blistering

research work included 15 separate

sub-studies, in which concrete and

waterproofing research were incor-

porated into the same project. The

project provided information about

the means to avoid the blistering

problem.

Blistering phenomena affecting bridge

deck waterproofing sheet membranes were

studied with the aim of clarifying the

causes of the blistering and generating

ways in which construction and repair

documents could be adjusted to remedy the

problem. The research project was funded

by the Bridge Unit of the Finnish National

Road Administration and it was carried out

in 1996-98 in collaboration with VTT

Communities and Infrastructure and VTT

Building Technology.

Blistering of waterproofings

Polymer-modified sheet membranes are

generally used as the waterproofing ma-

terial and polymer-modified cut-back

bitumen or epoxy as primers under the

sheet membranes in Finland.

The results of a site questionnaire

clearly revealed the timing of blistering es-

pecially for the years 1994-95. Most of the

blistered waterproofing membranes had

been laid at least one year before the blis-

tering was first observed. Blistering was

frequently observed in 1995 due to the pro-

motive weather conditions, but not one of

the waterproofing membranes laid in that

year exhibited any blistering. However,

many instances of blistering were observed

in the hot summer of 1997.

The maximum daily temperatures under

the membrane before the asphalting can

then be as high as 50oC, and the positive

gas pressure inside the air pockets remain-

ing beneath the membrane is of the order

of 0.03 MPa, which is sufficiently high to

raise the asphalt pavement if the membrane

is detached from the underlay. The relative

humidities in the surface layer of the slab

after waterproofing vary between 90 - 100

% in the first year.

Waterproofing site conditions

The waterproofing site condition require-

ments set out in Finnra’s instructions are

met on average on fewer than 20% of days

in the period April-October. Concentrat-

ing the works in the early summer is ad-

vantageous from the standpoint of work

quality. On the other hand, the brief work

season and the concentration of works in

a short period causes problems in the

scheduling and execution of waterproof-

ing works.

It can be concluded from a bridge deck

drying test carried out on site that hot sur-

facing equipment does not damage the

surface of the concrete underlay provided

that it is correctly used and heated with

sufficient caution. However weather pro-

tection or the timing of waterproofing

works at warm times of the year can be

considered better alternatives as far as the

quality of waterproofing work is con-

cerned.

Simulation of blistering in thelaboratory

A blistering simulator was designed and

built by VTT for the study, Figure 1.

Using this tool it was possible to experi-

mentally trace the formation mechanism

of the blisters and to clarify the factors

affecting blistering. The simulator was

used to examine 29 different waterproof-

ing systems.

The results of the simulator tests re-

vealed that the porosity of the concrete

affects the susceptibility of the sheet mem-

brane to blistering: a sheet membrane laid

on an air-entrained concrete underlay is

more susceptible to blistering than one laid

on non-air-entrained concrete. The use of

the epoxy sealant under the sheet mem-

brane was found to be the best way to pre-

vent blistering.

Preventing the blistering of bridgedeck waterproofing

Figure 1. VTT’s blistering simulator

PHOTO: TIMO UNHOLA

NORDIC ROAD & TRANSPORT RESEARCH NO. 3 · 2000 1 1

Quality of concrete and bitumen

An analysis of concrete samples taken

from the points where the sheet membrane

had blistered revealed that the total vol-

ume of air near the deck surface was large,

as much a 10% or more. The air content in

the surface layer of the deck was found to

be dangerously high as far as the risk of

blistering is concerned.

The bitumen tests showed that the prop-

erties of polymer-modified bitumen are

significantly weakened by overheating and

gave five factors that clearly contribute

towards the problem.

Conclusions

The following conclusions have been

made on the basis of the study:

• The volume of air in the fresh bridge

deck concrete may not exceed the air

volume requirement set on the basis

of frost resistance by more than three

percentage points and never by more

than 7%.

• Attention must be paid to the protec-

tive pore size distribution. The

number of voids should be as large as

possible.

• Sufficient and correctly timed

compaction of the surface layers

must be ensured, because improved

compaction reduces the volume of air

in the surface layer of the slab.

• Water spraying after final vibration

and finishing is recommended as the

curing method. The use of curing

material should be avoided.

• Design values should be set for the

roughness of the underlay surface.

• It is recommended that on bridge

sites the moisture in the concrete be

measured from cast-in-situ sensors

using a portable data logger.

• The most highly recommended wa-

terproofing method to prevent blister-

ing of the waterproofing membrane

with a high degree of certainty in

Finnish weather conditions is to use

epoxy sealant (figure 2) under the

membrane and to carry out the water-

proofing works under weather pro-

tection in accordance with the in-

structions for use of the epoxy mate-

rial, at the temperature permitted for

the use of polymer-modified bitu-

men, and using only materials ap-

proved for bridges.

• Waterproofing of a freshly placed

concrete surface is not recom-

mended. Because the weather condi-

tions required the use of weather

protection is recommended.

• The dew point temperature and the

temperature of the underlay should

always be measured and recorded

both before the commencement of

waterproofing work

• The bitumen melting kettle must be

equipped with a mixer and a thermo-

stat.

• The quality of the waterproofing

work must always be verified by

means of quality assurance tests.

Title:Prevention of bridge deck sheet

membrane waterproofing blistering.

Final report.

Author: Laukkanen Kyösti, Paroll Hem-

ming, Pitkänen Pertti, Vesikari Erkki

Series:Finnish National Road Adminis-

tration, Report 45/1998

Language:Finnish with English abstract

Figure 2. Applying of epoxy sealant


PHOTO: BESTSELLER OY



European experts suggest demo

projects as a key issue to promoting

safe walking and cycling. Another

highly ranked topic is implementing

a uniform comprehensive technique

for monitoring safe traffic behav-

iour among children, elderly and

disabled people around Europe.

A long-range Research & Development

(R&D) program for supporting long-range

national goals of safe mobility in road

transport is being developed on behalf of

the Finnish Ministry of Transport, the

Finnish Department of Motor Vehicles and

the Finnish Road Administration. The

work has been co-ordinated by VTT. The

program addresses the goals, necessary

R&D areas, and broad management proc-

ess for implementing R&D needs and gen-

erating new R&D ideas. As part of the

work, the Finnish Advisory Committee of

Traffic Safety has drafted a safety vision

as follows:

• The traffic environment must be

planned and designed so that nobody

dies or is severely injured in traffic.

• Research and development are to focus

on limiting fatalities in traffic by the

year 2025 to about 100 per year.”

Sale walking and cycling

The overall project includes 16 work pack-

ages, or major tasks. The results of the

work package presented in this paper deal

with promoting safe walking and cycling.

It has been the intent of the investigators

to cover all ‘important’ sub-areas, and to

identify experts for each of these.

The R&D ideas were first structured

into three sectors:

• Deeper understanding of necessary

changes

• Fuller quantification of the problems

and of progress made

• Safer bicycles and further crash protec-

tion.

Next, a total of 22 sub-areas were chosen

on the basis of recently published research

topics by the European Transport Safety

Council (Günther et al, 1999) and on re-

search ideas presented at a Finnish work-

shop on safe infrastructure with a sub-

theme dealing with promoting safe

walking and biking in urban areas.

Leading experts chosen

After the most important areas had been

identified, leading experts in those areas

were chosen. In some cases only one ex-

pert could be identified, in other cases

many were found (see Tables 1 – 3; col-

umn 3).

A questionnaire was sent to each of the

experts, giving them the opportunity to iden-

tify others in their area. Prioritising between

different areas was then done as ‘democrati-

cally’ as possible. A draft of this report was

sent to all participating experts and some

users of research (administrators and con-

sultants), and they were asked to ‘rank’ all

areas in order of importance to reach the

overall goal of promoting safe walking and

cycling. The result of the ranking is shown

in Tables 1 – 3; column 2.

Demo projects

The area ranked at the very top was

“How walking and cycling can form an

integral and attractive part of daily travel

by demo projects”. This deals with ways

of getting more people to walk and ride

bicycles on an everyday basis by provid-

ing better infrastructure such as a safe,

coherent, direct, comfortable and attractive

cycle network. Accompanying counter-

measures could be information and promo-

tion (by the city and/or corporations) to

encourage individual citizens or employ-

ees to walk or bike, and the creation of an

organisation to act as catalyst in the devel-

opment of pedestrian and bicycle friendly

planning. It is suggested to show best prac-

tise by demo projects. The health benefits

will be the same regardless of why a per-

son walks or bikes, but the reduction in

automobile trips will only be accomplished

if these modes substitute automobile driv-

ing.

Poor accident statistics

The area ranked number two, “Precondi-

tions for and safety implications of large

increases in walking and cycling”, deals

with what the preconditions should be for

a massive increase in the number of peo-

ple choosing to walk or ride bikes. The

purpose could be to provide a supporting

tool for the selection and implementation

of measures aiming to promote safe walk-

ing and cycling.

The area “Quantifying death, injury and

other harm arising from walking and cy-

Promoting safe walking and cycling

Example of winter maintenance procedures favouring automobile traffic.

PHOTO: LARS LEDEN



cling without the involvement of a motor

vehicle or in unreported collisions with

motor vehicles, and categorising the ways

and circumstances in which they arise”,

was ranked number three. It is well known

that police-reported statistics on pedestrian

and cyclist accidents are incomplete and

biased and therefore often not a very ap-

propriate basis for work aiming at promot-

ing safe walking and cycling. Hospital-

based statistics should be used to a greater

extent.

Helmet use

“To monitor traffic behaviour for differ-

ent age and road user groups and their use

of devices such as helmets, reflectors etc”

was ranked number four. It is suggested

that a new comprehensive technique is

used. A base for this is presented by

Johansson et al (1999). There obviously

would be huge advantages if a uniform

technique were used not only in Finland

but eventually all over Europe.

Australian research has shown that re-

quiring helmet use in the short run can re-

Project name Priority Experts EmailHow walking and cycling can form an integraland attractive part of daily travel bya. improved maintenance procedures 7 Kimmo Rönkä, LT-Konsultit Oy [email protected]

Anna Bergström, VTI/KTH [email protected]. improved intermodality 7 Maija Vähä-Rahka, Traffic League, [email protected]

Finland

c. other means (infrastructure see below) 14 Pekka Oja, UKK-instituutti [email protected] Nilsson, LTH, Sweden [email protected]

Preconditions for and safety implications of l 2 Lars Ekman, LTH, Sweden [email protected] increases in walking and cycling George Kanellaidis, NTUA, Greece [email protected] makes a route attractive or unattractive 9 Mikko Räsänen, Likenneturva, Finland [email protected] pedestrians and cyclists including subjective Christer Ljungberg, Trivector, Sweden [email protected] objective riskImplications for pedestrians and cyclists of 11 Risto Kulmala, VTT, Finland [email protected] of the intelligent transport Andras Varhelyi, LTH, Sweden [email protected] effects and risks of walking and cycling 12 Liisa Hakamies_Blomqvist, VTI, Sweden [email protected] the elderly Agneta Ståhl, LTH, Sweden [email protected]

Kimmo Rönkä, LT konsultit, Finland [email protected] mechanism whereby walking and cycling 5 Lars Ekman, LTH, Sweden [email protected] safer where there are more pedestrians andcyclists aboutThe incidence of injury as road users to people 19 Jörgen Lundälv, Norrlands universitets- [email protected] reduced mobility sjukhus, Sweden

duce ridership (Finch et al, 1993). On the

other hand, the long-term effect on

ridership may be positive since higher

safety should lead to higher participation.

Another concern is that there is a possibil-

ity that risks will not be decreased as much

as anticipated because of risk-compensa-

tion behaviour (risk homeostasis). In recent

years, helmets meeting the needs of cy-

clists have been developed and helmets

may be a natural part of the cyclists’ equip-

ment. This already seems to be the case in

many cities in Finland and Sweden. In

1997 the use of helmets was almost 40%

in the Helsinki Metropolitan area and in the

Stockholm area. However, for the rest of

Finland the figure was “only” 14%, which

is still better than the 7.9% for the rest of

Sweden (Nolén, 1998 and Parkkari, 2000).

Information about safety and promotion

activities at schools and work have been

important instruments in supporting peo-

ple who want to use a helmet.

Greater flow, less risks

The area “The mechanism whereby walk-

ing and cycling are safer where there are

more pedestrians and cyclists about” was

ranked number five. Rare events are often

dangerous. Risk decreases with increasing

pedestrian and cycle flows, as discussed

for example by Ekman (1996). However,

the mechanism behind this is not well un-

derstood. More knowledge could be an

important step toward improved road

safety.

“To improve cycle helmets to protect

the face, to fit better, and to be more attrac-

tive to users” was ranked number six.

Improved maintenance

Exploring “How walking and cycling can

form an integral and attractive part of daily

travel by improved maintenance proce-

dures” was ranked number seven. The best

practice in Finland is found in Oulu, where

good infrastructure and maintenance pro-

cedures (including winter maintenance)

have given a high annual modal share for

biking. Of all trips in Oulu 25% are cycle

Table 1. Deeper understanding of the necessary change


Example of design promoting safe cycling.

Project name Priority Experts EmailHow walking and cycling can form an 1 Eero Pasanen, City of Helsinki, Finland [email protected] and attractive part of daily Lars Leden, VTT, Finland [email protected] by demo projectsComparing the risks of travel on foot orby cycle with those of realistic travelalternatives in a range of specific situations 10 Hans Thulin, VTI, Sweden [email protected] death, injury and other harm 3 Ulf Björnstig, Norrlands universitetssjukhus, [email protected] from walking and cycling without Swedenthe involvement of a motor vehicle or in Per-Olof Kroon, Borås hospital, Sweden [email protected] collisions with motor vehicles, Birte Landorph, Odense Universitetshospital, [email protected] categorizing the ways and circum- Ulykkesanalysegruppen, Denmarkstances in which they ariseMonitoring the amounts of walking and 13 Matti Pursula, HUT, Finland [email protected] locally in urban areasAssessing patterns of potential movement 16 Matti Keränen, Viatek, Finland [email protected] foot or bicycle in each part of anurban areaMonitoring the traffic behaviour for different 4 Kalle Parkari, Liikenneturva, Finland [email protected] and road user groups and use of Lars Leden, VTT, Finland [email protected] such as helmets, reflectors etcMonitoring the effectiveness of education, 15 Roelof Wittink, I-ce, the Netherlands [email protected], publicity, road user training and Pirkko Rämä, VTT, Finland [email protected] of professionals relevant to the safety Matti Järvinen, Liikenneturva, Finland [email protected] walking and cycling

trips, compared with the average annual

share for Finland of 12% and 9% for Hel-

sinki (Schollaert and Coppieters, 1997). In

Helsinki, cycling mainly takes place in

May-September, even though Helsinki has

850 km of cycle tracks. One important rea-

son is that winter maintenance procedures

favour automobile traffic (Figure 1).

“How walking and cycling can form an

integral and attractive part of daily travel

by improved intermodality” also ranked

seventh. Safe routes to and from public

transportation and secure bicycle parking

facilities are obvious necessities if one

desires to see more people ride bicycles to

and from bus and train terminals. Even

more important may be ensuring that fu-

ture planning keeps densities high and dis-

tances short so that these systems can be

supported.


Table 2. Fuller quantification of the problem and of progress made

PHOTO: EDINBURG COUNCIL


Article specially written for NR&TR by Per

Gårder (Orono, Maine, USA) and Lars

Leden (VTT, Finland).

Acknowledgement: We would like to

thank all the experts who answered our

questionnaires, Harri Peltola (co-

ordinator of the overall research program,)

for his fruitful co-operation, and the com-

mittee members of the European Transport

Safety Council for their excellent work.

Literature:

Ekman, L., 1996. On the Treatment of

Flow in Traffic Safety Analysis a non-

parametric approach applied on vulner-

able road users. University of Lund

Lund Institute of Technology. Depart-

ment of Traffic Planning and Engineer-

ing. Bulletin 136.

Finch, C.F., Heiman, L. & Neiger, D.,

1993. Bicycle use and helmet wearing

rates in Melbourne 1987 - 1992: The in-

fluence of the helmet wearing law.

Monash university. Report 1993/02.

Referenced by Martinsson, T., 1996.

Trafiksäkerhetsreform Användning av

cykelhjälm. Borlänge, Vägverket.

Arbetspapper 1996-02-20.

Günther, R., Ekman, L., Janssen, E.,

Palmer, D., Lemonde De Macedo, A.,

Allsop, R., Herrstedt, L., Michalik, C. &

Fleury, D., Safety of Pedestrians and cy-

clists in urban areas. Brussels. Euro-

pean Transport Safety Council.

Gårder, P. & Leden, L., 2000. Strategic

Project name Priority Experts EmailDevelopment of European standards 17 Christian Wetterberg, Svensk [email protected] safe cycles maskinprovning, SwedenDevelopment of cycle lamps that are 20 Peter Winterman, Shimano Europe, [email protected], reliable and convenient to use The NetherlandSin real cycling conditionsDevelopment of a parents’ cycle for 21 Claes Alstermark, Cycleerope, Sweden [email protected] of young children and Kjell Sture, A. Samuelsson & Co, Sweden [email protected] passengersImprovement of cycle helmets to protect 6 Phil Graitcer, WHO:s Helmet Initiative [email protected] face, to fit better, and to be more Diane C Thompson, Harborview [email protected] to users medical center, US

Brian Chinn, TRL, Great Britain [email protected] possibility of child seats for inter- 22 Claes Tingvall, Swedish National [email protected] use between cars and cycles Road Administration, Sweden

Magnus Petrius, Rex industri AB, Sweden [email protected] Turbell, VTI, Sweden [email protected]

Reduction of head injuries to pedestrians 18 Per Lövsund, Chalmers, Sweden [email protected] cyclists from striking the windscreens Graham Lawrence, TRL, Great Britain [email protected] A-pillars of cars

Research fund prioritisations

Finally, it is obvious that research alloca-

tion should not be based solely on the opin-

ion of a relatively small number of experts.

However, it is our opinion that these re-

sults should be an important part of re-

search fund prioritisation in Finland and

Europe in coming years. Furthermore, re-

search already underway should be con-

tinued if there are promising results in

those areas. Participation in international

programs may also be important–even if

those areas have low rank—so that national

interests are safe-guarded.

R & D Program for Safe Mobility. Pro-

moting safe walking and cycling. Report

no 14 from the SRS project. VTT Com-

munities and Infrastructure. Research

Report 568/2000.

Johansson, C. Leden, L., Nilsson, K.,

Wilhelmsson, O. & Gårder, G., 2000.

Towards a safe traffic environment for

children - a starting point, Lund,

ICTCT, Kaiserslautern, 1999.

Nolén, S., 1998. Tio års

cykelhjälmsanvändning i Sverige.

Resultat från observationsstudier 1988-

1997 med tonvikt på 1997 års

mätresultat. VTI meddelande 844, 1998.

Parkkari, Kalle, 2000. E mail 10 April

2000.

Schollaert, U. & Coppieters, M.-C.,

1997. Transport Demand od Modes not

covered in International Transport Sta-

tistics. Cycling. European Cyclists’ Fed-

eration (ECF). European Union (con-

tract n° E1-B96-B2 7040-SIN 6051-

ETU)


Table 3. Safer cycles and further crash protection


NORWEGIAN PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION (NPRA)

The strengthening of concrete

structures with fibre reinforced

composites is a new field in rapid

development. A number of new

projects have been started in order

to improve understanding and

develop design standards. The

results so far have been positive,

and strengthening with carbon

fibres will in many cases be a simple

and effective solution.

There is an increasing need for a way to

strengthen concrete structures, either as a

result of damage or due to a need for in-

creased loading because of rebuilding or

change of use.

Road authorities in many European coun-

tries are reporting an ever increasing de-

gree of damage to bridges caused by dete-

rioration and increasing traffic loads.

Subsequently there has emerged a need to

strengthen bridges such that an acceptable

safety margin is upheld. At the same time

there is a requirement that the repair and

strengthening work is required to be car-

ried out:

• in the most economic way

• without reduction in traffic flow

• in a way that preserves the aesthetic

properties of the structure.

Strengthening by the use of Fibre Rein-

forced Polymers (FRP) is an interesting

possibility. Fibre reinforced polymers con-

sist of high strength fibres, typically car-

bon, aramid and glass, contained within

an epoxy matrix.

Stimulus for the constructionindustry

FRP-composites are traditionally associ-

ated with the aircraft and automobile in-

dustries as well as extreme activities in the

marine environment such as sailing. De-

spite more than 25 years research into com-

posite materials experience with their use

in the construction industry is still limited.

This is about to change. Lower material

costs have now made it possible to take

advantage of composite materials for

strengthening and upgrading of concrete

structures.

The use of FRP-composites has a great

potential because fibre reinforcement has

low weight, high strength, is thin and can

be installed quickly by gluing. It is claimed

that FRP-composites will provide a stimuli

for the construction industry analogous to

the introduction of reinforced concrete at

the beginning of the last century. This,

however, remains to be seen.

The method of construction is either the

“wrap” method where a woven fabric mat

about 0.15 mm thick is impregnated with

epoxy and glued to the structure. Alterna-

tively a carbon fibre reinforced plate 1-2

mm thick can be glued to the structure.

Experimental program

To be able to evaluate whether strength-

ening with fibre reinforced plates or wo-

ven fibre mats is an acceptable mainte-

nance method, practical testing is being

carried out in a collaboration between

structure owners, suppliers, contractors

and research institutions:

1) Strengthening of bridge beams with

carbon fibres reinforced composites.

2) Strengthening / sealing of bridge col-

umns by wrapping in impregnated woven

carbon fibre mats.

The tests are being carried out as part of

the research project “Concrete Structures

Strengthening with carbon fibres

Figure 1. From the demolition of Isakveien bridge - The work was carried out at night to avoid

disruption to railway traffic.



Life Cycle Project”. The following is a

brief description of the activities. Further

details are given in two rapport’s [1] and

[2] which will be published later in the

autumn.

Strengthening

During the controlled demolition of

Isakveien bridge in Lillestrøm (see figure

1), Akershus County Road Authority re-

moved two 11.2 m long Double T (DT)

beams from the 35 year old bridge and

transported these to the Department of

Structural Engineering, at the Norwegian

Technical University (NTNU) in

Trondheim. Each of the DT beams, which

had a 100 mm structural overlay (cast

insitu bridge deck), was divided lengthwise

to produce in all 4 T beams with structural

overlay.

Before and during the demolition work

a condition survey was performed. Table 1

gives a summary of the findings, as to du-

rability parametres. The conditions were

generally better in spans than at the beam

supports. This is most likely due to intrusion

of water and inadequate bond between the

overlay and the DT-beams near the col-

umns. The bond strengths between overlay

and DT-beams were tested at different lo-

cations. As shown in figure 2, the failure

also occured outside the interface area.

Failure values

The beam cross sections are shown in fig-

ure 3. The design strength of the concrete

used in the pre-cast beams was C55 (old

Norwegian grade B600) and C25 (B300)

for the structural overlay. The beam was

pre-stressed with 40 no. Ø4 mm St 1600/

1800 strands in the web and 14 no. Ø4 mm

strands in the flange. Shear reinforcement

consisted of Ø8 mm stirrups at 300 mm

centres.

Beam no.’s 1 and 2, without FRP-

strengthening, were tested to failure for

moment and shear respectively. The fol-

lowing failure values were recorded:

Beam no. 1:

Recorded moment at failure:Mfail

= 600 kNm

Beam no. 2:

Recorded shear at failure:Vfail

= 324 kN.

The achieved moment capacity was 23 %

higher than the sectional capacity, includ-

ing the overlay, calculated according to the

Norwegian Standard NS 3473 when the

material coefficients are set to 1.0. Like-

wise the recorded shear capacity was 104

% higher than the value calculated accord-

ing to NS 3473.

There was full composite action be-

tween the pre-cast beam and the overlay

during the entire duration of the test. The

calculated capacities for the section with

and without the overlay shows that the

addition of the overlay in this case leads to

an increase in section capacity of about

30%.

Strengthend beams

The remaining two beams were strength-

ened with longitudinal carbon fibre com-

posite plates of type SIKA CarboDur S

2850/3050 which have an average meas-

ured failure tensile strength of 3050 N/

mm2 and a Young’s modulus of 165 GPa.

The carbon fibre plates had a cross sec-

tional area of 108 and 216 mm2 for beams

3 and 4 respectively. Beam no. 3 was tested

to failure in bending, while beam no. 4,

which was to be tested in shear, had a com-

bined moment / shear failure.

Figure 2. Testing of

adhesion between the

pre-cast beam and

structural overlay by

the pull-off test. As

can be seen, failure

did not always occur

between the beam and

overlay, indicating

good bond between

the two.

Figure 3. Cross section of the test beams. The original Double T elements were cut in

two lengthwise.

Beam no. 3

p, maks

t t, mean

p

po,



Element / Cd Cover Potential Rust grade Commentslocation [mm] [mm] field value

Edge beam / 0 38 -280 B – C Chiselling. Potential fieldA2 value -250 – -410 for edge beam,

6 m length around A2

Parapet / 2 – 3 10 – 20 -160 – -355 B – C Stirrups (cover 10 mm), meshA2 north (cover 20 mm), determined by chiselling

Parapet / 0 – 5 11 – 22 -175 – -305 B – C Stirrups (cover 11 mm), meshA2 south (cover 22 mm), determined by chiselling

DT element > 30 5 / 30 -185 – -405 C At the end of the DT element (end of stirrups/ (end of element) the carbonation depth was > 30 (in toelement) cable cables). The potential field value became rap

idly more positive towards the middle of thebeam before sinking again towardsthe other end.

The adhesion between the pre-cast beam and structural overlay (tensile strength ) varied from 1.2 to 1.8 MPa (average 1.5 MPa)with the rupture occurring both in the pre-cast unit and in the interface between the beam and overlay.

Cd: Carbonation depthPotential field value: mV against Cu/CuSO4Rust grade (as defined in Norwegian Public Roads Authority Hand book 136 – Bridge inspection guide):

A = no rust,B = small amounts of surface rust,C = Evenly distributed surface rust,D = scaling rust with a clear reduction in cross sectionE = pitting corrosion.

Recorded failure values were:Beam no. 3:

Additional reinforcement AFRP

= 108 mm2

Recorded moment at failure Mfail

= 751 kNm.

Beam no. 4:

Additional reinforcement AFRP

= 216 mm2

Recorded moment at failure Mfail

= 800 kNm

Recorded shear at failure Vfail

= 214 kN.

Beam no. 4 cannot be directly compared

with the control value for shear, beam

no. 2, because of a difference in the load

arrangement.

The comparison between the strength-

ened and unstrengthened beams shows

that strengthening with the FRP plates

gave an increase in moment capacity of 25

and 33 % for beams no.’s 3 and 4 respec-

tively. This increase is in good agreement

with the additional area of reinforcement

that the FRP plates represent.

The failure mechanism for the strength-

ened beams, however, was more brittle.

This can be explained in part by the in-

crease in the area of reinforcement and

partly because in the final stages of failure

a lamination crack developed in the web

just above the prestressing strands.

An additional advantage was that FRP

strengthening lead to an increased stiffness

for the loading levels that are representa-

tive for the serviceability limit state.

Strengthening and sealing

As part of the development of simple meth-

ods for the repair of bridge columns which

have been damaged either as a result of

insufficient durability or increased load-

ing, test loading of columns strengthened

with woven carbon fibre fabric sheets was

carried out at SINTEF Civil and Environ-

mental Engineering in Trondheim. The ap-

proach is relevant to bridge columns with

considerable cracking for example as a re-

sult of Alkali Aggregate Reaction (AAR)

damage where there is a danger of corro-

sion of the reinforcement.

The aim of the activity is to test the

strengthening effects of wrapping columns

in woven carbon fibre fabric sheets, as well

as investigating the secondary effect of

sealing the concrete surface.

An experimental laboratory program

has been carried out where 4 columns have

been tested to failure under a centrally ap-

plied load. The columns were 2.8 m long

and had a diameter of 330 mm. The verti-

cal reinforcement in the middle portion of

the column has been lapped with a lap

length of 300 mm, which is about 1/4 of that

required by NS 3473.

Column S1, the reference column, was

a concrete column where the vertical rein-

forcement was without stirrups in the mid-

dle 1 m section. Column S2 was the same

as S1 but with the addition of 5 no. Ø8 mm

stirrups placed at 130 mm centres in the

middle 620 mm section. Columns S3 and

S4 were of the same construction as S1 but

with strengthening in the form of one and

two layers respectively of woven carbon

Table 1: Extract of condition data from Isakveien bridge prior to demolition.



References

[1] Takacs, Peter F. & Kanstad, Terje:

Strengthening Prestressed Con-

crete Beams with Carbon Fibre

Reinforced Polymer Plates. NTNU-

rapport, 2000-08-16 (Provisional):

Client: Norwegian Public Roads

Administration & SIKA Norway

AS. Trondheim, NTNU 2000.

[2] Thorenfeldt, Erik & Øverli, Jan

Arve: Forsterkning av betongs-

øyler med karbonfibervev.

(Strengthening of bridge columns

with woven carbon fibre materials)

SINTEF-rapport, 2000-07-14

(Provisional): Client: Norwegian

Public Roads Administration,

Trondheim, SINTEF 2000.

[3] SIKA Norway AS.

Dimensjoneringsveiledning for

Sika CarboDur - laminater

(CarboDur laminates Design

procedure - adapted to Norwegian

conditions). Hagan 1999.

The article is written by Finn Fluge & Ian

Markey.

Norwegian Public Roads Administration,

Road Technology Department (NRRL).

fibre fabric sheet of type SIKA Wrap with

a thickness of 0.13 mm.

The following axial loads were recorded

at failure:

• Column S1 F = 2177 kN



• Column S4 F = 3281 kN.

Wrapping with one layer of woven carbon

fibre fabric increased the failure load by

21 %, while two layers gave an increase

of 51 %.

The fibre reinforced columns were

much more ductile than the reference col-

umn. Concrete strain at failure was 1.5 ‰

for column S1 and 5 ‰ for column S4.

The effect of external fibre reinforce-

ment is considerable, but cannot be taken

full advantage of when repairing columns

which are already under load.

The application of carbon fibre woven

sheets proved to be a relatively simple op-

eration.

Construction directives

In addition to the aforementioned test-

ing, the Norwegian Armed Forces Build-

ing Service (FBT) have begun a testing

program at SINTEF Civil and Environ-

mental Engineering where the aim is to

document the bonding properties be-

tween the glued carbon fibre composites

and the concrete surface.

This is naturally encompassed by the

work to establish the foundation needed

when drawing up new standards. The

most important problems which have to

be addressed are:

• Choice of material, design and

method of construction for varying

uses

• Interaction between the glued fibre

plate and the concrete structure

• The connection between cracking in

the concrete and stresses in the fibre

composite

• Bond and anchorage lengths

• Failure mechanisms

• Ductility and the possibility of brit-

tle failure

• Durability.

A design guide has been published in

Sweden covering the strengthening of

concrete structures with carbon fibre

composites, as part of

the Swedish bridge

design standards.

Norwegian guide-lines

At present there are no

such guidelines pub-

lished in Norway.

There does, however,

exist different design

guides, for example

[3], published by

manufacturers of fibre

composites, but these

guides are not stand-

ardised (specific to

manufacturers prod-

ucts) and do not take into account the

choice of different fibre materials, glue

and methods of construction.

In order to remedy this situation, a

joint project has been started, led by

Norconsult, where the aim is to draw up

a Norwegian Concrete Association pub-

lication on guidelines for strengthening

of concrete structures. The results from

the Concrete Structures Life Cycle

Project study will be made available for

this work.

Figure 4: Testing of carbon fibre reinforced beam.


The standards of Russian road

design and Russian road construc-

tion materials must be harmonised

with the standards that apply, or are

being drawn up, in Europe. The

harmonisation project is led by a

Swedish consortium comprising

Sweco International, SweRoad and

VTI.

Large sections of the Russian infrastruc-

ture are substandard. Roads are breaking

up; one of the reasons is that bitumen and

the road pavement are of low quality.

Traffic, and the number of traffic acci-

dents, are increasing.

Commerce also suffers.

A catch-22 situation

What we are facing is a catch-22 situation:

The crisis in the Russian economy results

in the deterioration of the infrastructure,

which, in turn, causes the economic prob-

lems that result in lack of money to im-

prove the infrastructure...

Russia is a great potential market for

enterprises in the European Union coun-

tries. It has therefore been decided to fi-

nance a project which is a first stage in im-

proving the road network in that huge

country in the east.

Several countries in Europe competed

for this project. It was the Swedish consor-

tium, with Sweco as the leading partner,

that succeeded.

Tacis – an EU programme

The consortium comprises Sweco Interna-

tional, SweRoad (i.e. the Swedish Road

Administration) and VTI. Technische

Prüfanstalt of Vienna, Austria, is also a

part, although a minor one, of this other-

wise wholly Swedish consortium.

– It was in really hard competition with

several other consortia that we got this

project, says Kent Gustafson at VTI.

– For example, we have “beaten” Fin-

land, in spite of the great advantage the

Finns had owing to their former coopera-

tion with the Russians.

Kent Gustafson, together with Safwat

Said, is the representative of VTI in the

harmonisation project. Safwat Said was in

Moscow in September to meet representa-

tives of the Russian Road Administration

and the Ministry of Communications.

– In formal terms, this project comes

under an EU programme called TACIS,

points out Safwat Said.

Cooperation with CEN

The objective, to start with, is to review

Russian standards. These will then be com-

pared and harmonised with the standards

that apply in Europe. It is desirable that all

should have the same units of measure-

ment and dimensions as far as this is fea-

sible, but if this cannot be done the units

must at least be comparable.

This is not quite so simple, since stand-

ards are not yet the same in the whole Eu-

ropean Union, but the European Commit-

tee for Standardisation (CEN) is coordinat-

ing a harmonisation process.

– The Russian project will therefore be

conducted in close cooperation with CEN,

says Kent Gustafson.

Purchase of instruments

The principal contribution of VTI will be

to make comparative studies regarding

laboratory and field methods. This work

will be done both in Moscow (at the Road,

Vehicle and Transport Research Institute,

VTI supports better roads in RussiaSWEDISH NATIONAL ROAD AND TRANSPORT RESEARCH INSTITUTE (VTI)

Kent Gustafson, Professor

Nikolay V. Bistrov (Laboratory

Director at MADI) and Leif Viman

(VTI) during a visit to Russia.

– A relatively large proportion of

the work will be done in Moscow,

but Russian laboratory staff will

also come here to Linköping, says

Kent Gustafson.

PHOTO: VTI


SWEDISH NATIONAL ROAD AND TRANSPORT RESEARCH INSTITUTE (VTI)

MADI), and in Linköping.

– Our impression is that the theoretical

expertise of the Russians is very high, but

that they do not have the optimum facili-

ties to put their knowledge to practical use,

says Kent Gustafson.

– They have primitive laboratories and

little scope.

The intention is that at the end of the

project the staff of Russian laboratories

will be trained in European methods of

analysis. In this also VTI will play a ma-

jor part.

– We will work as consultants in Rus-

sia, says Kent Gustafson. The Russian staff

will also have access to instruments of

CEN standard. In the budget, funds have

been allocated for the purchase of such

instruments.

The project is intended to extend over

two years. It must therefore be finished in

the summer of 2002.

– I do not think that we will solve all the

problems in these two years, but it is at

least the first step on the way, says Kent

Gustafson.

Both he and Safwat Said are looking

forward to working with the Russians.

– Sweco has a representative in Russia

who is familiar with Russian conditions.

Many other necessary contacts have also

been established. I believe this means that

we will not be obstructed, says Kent

Gustafson.

– Yes, we have the gateways we need.

We have no feelings of insecurity at all,

adds Safwat Said.

The beginning of something new

When VTI agreed to being part of the

Sweco consortium, this meant entering a

completely new area. VTI has not previ-

ously been involved in any projects of this

kind. On some occasions, however, VTI

has seconded staff to e.g. Costa Rica, Es-

tonia and Indonesia.

Does this mean that VTI is extending its

activities?

– Yes, we could perhaps say that, smiles

Kent Gustafson. And this may be only a

beginning. We have already been asked

whether we would participate in further

projects within the framework of the same

EU programme.

Catarina Gisby/Redakta

One example of the differences between

equipment in Russia and the rest of Europe.

In Russia the screen apertures are round,

while in Europe they are square.

In Moscow the roads are perhaps not so bad, but one does not have to travel far outside the metropolis to note the very poor state of the

Russian road network.

PHOTO: VTI

PHOTO: VTI, KENT GUSTAFSON



It is almost 70 times more danger-

ous in Ghana than in Sweden to be

in traffic. In order to reduce the

large number of traffic fatalities

and injuries, Ghana has turned to

Sweden and VTI for help.

– The requirements for getting a driving

licence must be increased to improve traf-

fic safety, says Birger Nygaard, researcher

at VTI.

The standard of Ghanaian drivers has

for many years been considered low, and

this has a strong negative effect on traffic

safety in Ghana. The general level of edu-

cation of the population is low, and almost

one half are illiterate. Every year, a large

number of people are killed in traffic in

Ghana, and even more are seriously in-

jured. This low driving standard has reper-

cussions not only for the individual driv-

ers but also for the whole country. National

economy is badly affected by the high

medical care costs, and this means that

development is retarded since a large pro-

portion of the country’s money is used up

by the high – and apparently unnecessar-

ily high - costs of caring for those injured

and killed in traffic.

High accident risk

There are no exact figures as to how many

are killed and injured in traffic in Ghana,

but the risk of being killed in traffic is about

70 times greater than in Sweden. This is

in spite of the fact that the estimated

number of those with a driving licence is

only between one and one and a half mil-

lion, and there are only about 300 000 ve-

hicles in the country that has a population

nearly twice that of Sweden.

– Quite simply, it is not possible to ob-

tain more exact figures. The vehicle and

driving licence records are kept manually

and consist mostly of piles of paper divided

between the 21 DVLA offices in Ghana,

says Birger Nygaard, project manager for

the traffic safety project in Ghana.

Computerisation of the register is also one

of the main tasks of the traffic safety

project which VTI is running in Ghana.

A driving licence feeds the family

Ghana is a very poor country and only

about one half of the population has a paid

job. This means that the number of those

who can afford lessons in the few driving

schools is very low. To train for a driving

licence at a driving school in Ghana costs

about 350 000 Cedi which corresponds to

about 800 SEK. The average monthly

wage in Ghana is 400–600 SEK.

But a driving licence can in many cases

decide the survival of a whole family, and

many people therefore get a driving licence

without going to a driving school, which

poses a problem for traffic safety.

– In a developing country like Ghana,

all members of a family must help earn

money for the family, says Birger Nygaard.

Striking a balance

For many people, a driving licence repre-

sents entry to the labour market, since be-

ing a driver is one of the most common jobs

in Ghana for somebody who has no school

education. As a driver, one can earn a few

extra Cedi so that all members of the fam-

ily will have enough to eat each day.

Driver training programme in Ghana

PHOTO: VTI

PHOTO: VTI



– This is a dilemma for us when it comes

to tightening up the requirements for a

driving licence, emphasises Birger

Nygaard.

– While we want to improve the safety

of traffic users in Ghana as quickly as pos-

sible, we must also bear in mind what con-

sequences this will have for the situation

of individuals.

Oral driving tests

Theoretical and practical driving tests in

Ghana are markedly different from those

in Sweden. Among other things, the theo-

retical test is mostly oral since illiteracy is

very high, about half the population can

neither read nor write. The situation among

younger people seems better, however,

since most go to primary school at least

for a few years.

At present, the theoretical test contains

a few questions about the meaning of traf-

fic signs. If the person manages to answer

most of the ten to twelve questions, he or

she is considered to have passed. The prac-

tical test is similar, people have to drive a

short distance on an ordinary road, and if

they manage this, the test is deemed satis-

factory.

– To create a driver training programme

which can be used by all irrespective of

whether they can read and write is a com-

pletely new experience both for me and for

VTI and Sweden, says Birger Nygaard.

New system in 2001

The new driver training programme which

VTI is helping Ghana develop will place

much greater emphasis on traffic safety

issues than the present system. The require-

ments which people must satisfy to get a

driving licence in Ghana today are not suf-

ficient to prepare drivers for the heavy and

complex traffic they will encounter, mainly

in the large cities. The intention is that the

new driver training system will gradually

come into force from the middle of 2001.

“Old” and “new” driving licences

The development project in Ghana is only

in its introductory phase, it was started

about one year ago on the basis of agree-

ments on the overriding goals and the

means of attaining these.

During the spring and summer of 2000

a large pictorial archive from Ghanaian

traffic environments was built up. These

pictures will be used to illustrate theoreti-

cal tests, text books and TV campaigns. In

the autumn and winter of 2000 courses will

be held for driver examiners and driving

school instructors. New teaching material

will also be produced that places greater

emphasis on traffic safety issues than was

the case when people learned the meaning

of traffic signs by heart. This will be fol-

lowed by information campaigns on TV

and radio, and it is expected that in one

year, in the middle of 2001, a start can be

made on introducing the new regulations

and requirements, and also a completely

new driving licence system. In order to

come to grips with the increasing problem

of illicit driving licences, Ghana has al-

ready this year introduced a new type of

plastic driving licence, similar to the Swed-

ish licence, that cannot be forged.

– One problem that we are still trying

to solve is what to do with those who al-

ready have a driving licence, says Birger

Nygaard.

Since there is no functioning register of

people who have a driving licence, it is not

possible, or indeed desirable, to replace ex-

isting licences by new ones. Nor is it pos-

sible to require all the “old” driving licence

holders to take a new test, since it is not

known who has a driving licence.

– We are hoping for support from the

large companies in Ghana which need to

employ drivers. If we could persuade them

to pay for driver training for their employ-

ees, this would be a great step forward. And

it appears that companies in Ghana are

very interested in spending money on train-

ing, says Birger Nygaard.

Aid from SIDA and the World Bank

When the Ghanaian authorities decided to

ask for assistance in developing their driver

training system and the requirements for

getting a driving licence, they wanted to

try something new instead of turning to

their former colonial power, Great Britain.

Ghana applied to the World Bank for

money to modernise and develop the pub-

lic sector and the DVLA offices, and to

the Swedish International Development

Authority SIDA for help in appointing VTI

as expert consultant. Representatives of the

Ghanaian traffic authorities have on sev-

eral occasions visited VTI in different

matters, for instance for traffic safety

courses, and as a result the Ghanaian gov-

ernment decided to approach VTI for ex-

pert assistance.

– It is very unusual for VTI to be asked

to manage such a large project, says Birger

Nygaard, since VTI has not the broad ex-

pertise that is needed in this case. We there-

fore collaborate with external experts, such

as SweRoad and Lernia, which supply the

expertise that VTI lacks.

PHOTO: VTI

The driving license records are kept manually and consist mostly of piles of paper.

PHOTO: VTI


Annotated reports from the Danish Road Directorate (DRD)

The Road Directorate has published a new

report in Danish describing the condition

and development of the National High-

ways in Denmark for the year 1999. The

report deals with themes regarding traffic

volumes, transport quality, road and bridge

maintenance conditions, service facilities,

road safety, environmental conditions and

road accounts.

Like its predecessor ”National roads

1998” the new report consists of maps,

graphs, tables and text, which aim to give

the reader a general overview of the present

Author: Søren BrønchenburgSeries: Report No. 201Language: Danish

condition and development of the national

highway network. The report is also avail-

able in electronic form (HTML and PDF)

from the Danish Road Directorate´s web

site www.vd.dk under Publications. Title:

“Statsvejnettet 1999: Nøgleinformationer

om statsvejnettets tilstand og udvikling”.

Published in Denmark, August 2000.

Key information on the condition and development of thenational highway network in Denmark

The coastal bridge projectMarine structures involve substantial in-

vestments for construction as well as re-

pairs during their service life. Danish ma-

rine bridge structures were built in the

period 1936-1985. Danish bridge piers in

seawater are subject to a high risk of cor-

rosion damage due to the high chloride

content in the Danish seawater.

The Danish Road Directorate has from

1995-1999 investigated their bridge struc-

tures in order to evaluate the probability of

corrosion damage at the time of investiga-

tion and in future. This report includes a

presentation of the investigation method-

ology and the results of the investigations.

Furthermore the bridges are given a prior-

ity depending on their present condition

and thus whether a special investigation or

merely a basic investigation program

would apply in future.

Subsequently an overall basic investi-

gation programme has been suggested for

future use, where details on number and

Authors: Erik Stolzner, Birgit Buhr,Finn Jensen, AsgerKnudsen, Ruth Sørensen,Danish Road Directorate,Bridge Department

Series: Rapport nr. 198, 2000Language: Danish

location of tests are given together with

specifications on test methods to be used.

The project’s aim is to monitor the devel-

opment in urban air quality in Denmark.

The survey involves 28 roads. The air qual-

ity is calculated using a Nordic perdiction

model called BLB (Beregningsmodel af

Luftkvalitet i Bygader). BLB calculates

levels of CO and NO2. A comparison on

three roads with permanent stations for

monitoring air quality shows that calcu-

lated values of both CO and NO2 are quite

consistent with the measured values.

The 28 roads together carry the same

amount of traffic from 1985 to 1998. On

access and cross-town roads there has been

a 14 percent increase. There has been a 21

percent decrease in traffic volumes on

main streets in central areas. On main

streets in urban areas the traffic levels have

fluctuated through the period of the survey.

The trend in pollution levels clearly shows

the effect of catalytic converters on passen-

ger cars. The levels of CO have decreased

by altogether 57 percent from 1985 to

1998, and it is unlikely that there are prob-

Traffic and urban air quality - Monitoring and modellingfrom 1985-1998

Authors: Lars Ellebjerg Larsen andLone Reiff, Road Directorate

Series: Rapport 199, 2000Language: Danish

lems in keeping below the WHO’s guide-

line values. The levels of NO2

have de-

creased by 27 percent since 1985, but there

are still fairly high levels on several roads.


Annotated reports from VTT, Communities and Infrastructure, Finland

Author: Kyösti LaukkanenSeries: VTT Communities and Infra-

structure, Contractor Report548/2000

Language: Finnish with English ab-stract

The aim of the study was to find out new

easy-to-use concrete moisture measuring

devices for bridge deck waterproofing

sites. The present methods in use are dry-

ing concrete samples in oven or measur-

ing the relative humidity in holes drilled

into the bridge deck. The research method

was to measure moisture with 13 different

devices in the same concrete samples

stored at laboratory in different humidity

conditions.

The study was carried out by VTT Com-

munities and Infrastructure and VTT

Building Technology and it was ordered by

the Finnish National Road Administration.

Based on the study it was possible to

rank the devices which worked best at

laboratory. Several devices which were

tested were not applicable for measuring

high moisture contents with an adequate

accuracy.

For measuring the moisture content of

concrete the Tramex Concrete Moisture

Encounter gave results that were best com-

parable with the results of the oven drying

method.

Among the test methods based on rela-

tive humidity, a Rotronic AWVC-device

and a test tube method (using a Vaisala

sensor) gave results that were relatively

near to the values measured in holes drilled

in concrete.

These test results are valid only in the

constant laboratory climate conditions

used in the study. On a bridge site also

many variables (e.g. temperature changes,

rain, wind and in old bridges chlorides)

affect the results. That is why the study

should be continued using the three meth-

ods with best laboratory results in real

bridge site climate conditions.

An easy to use device for measur-

ing moisture in concrete.

Finnish Rail Administration (RHK) has

started to monitor all railway level cross-

ings on their rails. The monitoring has al-

ready been made on five rail sections

(about 450 km and 325 railway level

crossings) and will continue for some

years.

After the field studies the recommen-

dations for countermeasures to improve

traffic safety at monitored railway level

crossings were made. The countermeas-

ures were classified to be carried out im-

mediately, soon or later. The countermeas-

ures to be carried out immediately make a

railway level crossing safe to enter. Exam-

ples of these countermeasures were e.g.

restrictions for articulated vehicles, speed

limits for trains or clearing the vegetation

to improve sight distances. A countermeas-

ure to be carried out soon (within a year)

could be equipping the level crossing with

half-barriers and later building of grade

Concrete moisture measuring methods for bridge construction site

Traffic safety at railway level crossings

Author: Kirsi Pajunen, Matti AnilaSeries: VTT Communities and Infra-

structure, Contractor Re-ports 539 and 543 / 2000

Language: Finnish with English Ab-stract

separated crossing or a new road connec-

tion. A computer program called ARC

(Audit of Railway level Crossings) was

developed to view all monitored railway

level crossings.

We have also described the problem of

traffic safety at railroad level crossings.

Almost one hundred different counter-

measures to improve traffic safety at rail-

road level crossings were collected from

literature and interviews of experts as a

toolbox for RHK. The pros and cons of the

countermeasures and their applicability to

the conditions in Finland were assessed.

PHOTO: KYÖSTI LAUKKANEN

PHOTO: MATTI ANILA


A package of co-ordinated measures in

order to develop public transport has been

carried out in Kongsvinger, a small town

in the eastern part of Norway.

This report summarises the short-term

effects of the measures as they appear in

surveys of train and bus passengers, and

among the elderly, which is a target group

for this project.

The main conclusions are:

Package of measures ”Transport for all in Kongsvinger”– New passengers were captured, and

existing passengers travelled more.

– Among train users the express bus,

rather than the car, had to a large extent

become the alternative mode.

– Parts of the long distance travellers

who had a car available chose public trans-

port because it was more comfortable.

– Passengers felt to a great extent that

the measures represented a positive devel-

opment of the relevant quality factors.

–The infrastructure measures made con-

siderable improvements for the public

transport operations and enabled the deliv-

ery of improved services.

Authors: Kjartan SælensmindeSeries: TØI report 491/2000Language: English

Annotated reports from the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), Norway

The subject of this thesis is how to value

nonmarket goods when the valuations are

to be used in cost-benefit analysis. Two

different Stated Preference valuation meth-

ods are used in the five papers that consti-

tute the thesis, Stated Choice and Contin-

gent Valuation. A main result in the thesis

is that Stated Choice is a valuation method

that may collect so much data noise that

the valuation results are affected. There-

Valuation of nonmarket goods for use in cost-benefit analyses.fore, the elicitation methods should be

made sufficiently simple that people are

able to state their preferences in response

to the presented choice set.

Another main result is that a simultane-

ous valuation procedure, accounting for in-

teractions between the nonmarket goods

included in cost-benefit analysis for road

investments, significantly reduces the

valuations compared to a separate valua-

tion procedure. In the methodological dis-

cussion of how to value nonmarket goods

for use in cost-benefit analysis, the choice

of valuation context seems, therefore, to be

an important issue.

The institutional differences between

the agencies explain some of the differ-

ences in the agencies work with the plan.

The Public Road Administration has most

resources, largest funding and the longest

experience making them play the leading

role, also independent from their formal

role in heading the planning process.

The process was closely co-ordinated

with the ordinary planning processes in the

agency. The National Rail is next to the

PRA in involvement in the mutual proc-

esses and internal co-ordination of the

work. The National Coastal Administration

has been participating actively in the co-

operation but has fewer resources and plan-

ning skills than the other two. The Civil

Aviation Administration has fewer inter-

ests at stake in the transport planning proc-

ess and has therefore involved them the

least. The planning methods and defini-

tions have probably strengthened the lead-

ing role of the PRA and reduced the posi-

tion of the NCA and the CAA.

Authors: Inger-Anne RavlumSeries: TØI report 488/2000Language: Norwegian with English

summary

Authors: Edvin FrøysadalSeries: TØI working report 1167/

2000Language: Norwegian with English

summary

The co-operation between the four trans-

port agencies to develop a national Trans-

port Plan in Norway, has been concentrated

on the more general transport policy and

less on the means the agencies themselves

have at hand.

The Public Road Administration has most resources, largest funding and the longest experience

making them play the leading role in the planning process.

Comprehensive, common and transparent?The Transport Agencies´ National Transport Planning Process



Foreign visitor surveyare included in the statistics. Altogether

800 000 tourists stayed overnight and

around 380 000 day visitors crossed the

border during this winter season. One-third

of the visitors were on business trips while

the remainder were on holiday. Foreign

tourists spent a total of nearly 4.8 million

guest nights in Norway during the 2000

winter season.

The total number of foreign overnight

guests dropped by six percent compared to

the winter season of the previous year. The

number of holidaymakers declined by

seven percent, whereas a more modest re-

duction was registered for business trips.

The number of foreign guest nights fell by

seven percent and the decline was most

significant among holidaymakers. Foreign

winter traffic to Norway, measured by the

total number of arrivals and guest nights,

is approximately at the same level in 2000

as in 1998.

The number of tourists travelling to

Norway by private motor vehicles or

coaches - who account for four-fifths of

holidaymakers - grew during the 1996 to

1999 winter seasons, but this trend has now

been broken by a decline. The drop in 2000

has been pronounced among visitors from

Sweden and Denmark, who make up the

largest foreign winter holiday markets for

the Norwegian tourism industry.

Road traffic risk in Norway 1997–98

The report presents new estimates of road

traffic risk of road user groups distributed

by age and gender. Exposure data are col-

lected from the National Nor-

wegian Travel Study 1997/98

and annual reports of trans-

port performance in Norway

given by the Institute of

Transport Economics. Acci-

dent data are collected from

the Central Bureau of Statis-

tics (SSB); from the National

Insitute of Public Health

(Folkehelsa) and from annual

reports of road accidents col-

lected by the major Norwe-

gian insurance companies

(TRAST). The results show

that cyclists, motorcyclists and mopedists

are most at risk, both for death and injury,

according to estimates based on SSB-data.

Authors: Jan Vidar Haukeland, ArneRideng

Series: TØI report 485/2000Language: Norwegian with English

summary

Authors: Torkel BjørnskauSeries: TØI report 483/2000Language: Norwegian with English

summary

The report presents the results of the Nor-

wegian foreign visitor survey January -

April 2000. Practically all foreign visitors

One-third of the foreign visitors to

Norway during the winter 2000

were on business trips.

Cyclists in Norway have an

extremely high risk compared

to other road user groups.

Calculations made by use of hospital

data (Folkehelsa) estimate the injury risk

of cyclists to be extremely much larger

than that of other road user groups. The

overall road traffic risk has been fairly sta-

ble during the nineties. The injury risk of

motorcyclists, mopedists and to some ex-

tent pedestrians, has decreased. For car

drivers, car passengers and cyclists, the

risk of injury is unchanged. Injury risk of

young car drivers has, however, increased

during the nineties.


Output-based funding of urban public transport. Model simula-tion of alternative incentives and financial framework

This report studies the possibilities for in-

troducing an alternative funding system

for public transport based on a “Dutch

treat” that involves local authorities and

the central government. Estimates indi-

cate that the central government can ini-

tiate a process that provides huge benefits

relatively easily. This involves subsidies

Productivity growth in the Norwegian ferryindustry 1988–1996Productivity growth in the Norwegian

national roads ferry industry 1988-1996

has been studied with the DEA method.

There are probably errors in official sta-

tistics regarding passengers. Some of our

conclusions are therefore coached in

cautions terms.

There has been zero growth in produc-

tivity with regard to cost efficient pro-

duction of the ferry transport supply.

This is due to a growth in ferry sizes, the

increased capital costs of new ferry

types, and reduced frequencies. The

fixed contract reform of 1990 has prob-

ably contributed to not making it nega-

tive, but this effect has diminished after

a few years. There has been a productiv-

ity growth with regard to the efficient use

of the ferry transport supply to produce

ferry transport services. This is probably

due to the heavy traffic links. Productiv-

ity in the light traffics links may have

declined. There may have been a produc-

tivity decline in the cost efficient produc-

tion of ferry transport services. If so, this

is mainly due to the low demand links,

that vary with passenger numbers.

We have studied the effects of such a

system in Kristianssand, with increased

road user charges of NOK 2 that are ear-

marked for public transport, and central

government funding of NOK 4 for each

new passenger. Additionally, there are

output-based subsidies to the operators.

According to our estimates this will yield

an annual economic benefit of NOK 30m,

and will increase passenger numbers by

20% and reduce rush hour car use by

around 7%.

which are also the links with the highest

relative subsidy levels. The need for sub-

sidies for the industry as a whole may

therefore not have been reduced.

Authors: Kjell Werner Johansen,Bård Norheim


summary

Authors: Harald Minken, Marit Killi,Konrad Pütz


summary

A subsidy system for the public transport that vary with passenger numbers seems to be

very effective.



Model for transports in Norwegian foreign tradeIn this project TOI has developed a net-

work model for freight transport to and

from Norway. This model has been used

to study six scenarios, each of which il-

lustrates trends or measures that have an

impact on the use of intermodal freight

supply solutions in Norwegian foreign

trade.

These have been compared to a basic

scenario. We have among others calculated

the changes in modal distribution and

transport costs resulting from structural

Speed limits in urban areasThe system for determining speed limits

in urban areas is examined. Studies that

have been made in Norway concerning

Authors: Anne Madslien, GiskeCharlotte Lillehammer, TronEven Skyberg


summary

changes in ports and changes in the sup-

ply of sea transport, problems of capacity

in overland transport, changes in the im-

portance attached to the quality of trans-

portation, and increased transport costs for

road transports. In all these cases, both the

amount of general cargo handled by Nor-

wegian ports and the amount crossing the

border at sea have increased.

The effects on air pollution and global

warming depend, however, on whether sea

transport increases its market share at the

expense of rail transport, for which the

emissions are lower than for sea transport

per unit transported, or road transport, for

which the emissions are higher.

Authors: Astrid Amundsen, RuneElvik, Kjartan Sælensminde


summary

insecurity are summarised. It has been

found that many parents worry about the

safety of children in traffic.

Estimates of the optimal speed limits on

different types of road in urban areas are

made. Sensitivity analyses are made by

varying input parameters systematically.

Current criteria for setting speed limits are

described. It is concluded that major arte-

rial roads in urban areas can have a higher

speed limit than the general speed limit of

50 km/h. Access roads in residential areas

and streets in shopping areas ought to have

a speed limit of 30 km/h.

Transport performance in Norway 1946–1999In this report, transport performance fig-

ures for the year 1999 are presented to-

gether with other relevant Norwegian

transport statistics. Domestic passenger

transport performance increased by one per

cent in 1999. The public transport sector

experienced high growth rates, while pri-

vate car transport remained at the 1998-

level. The airport express train to and from

Gardermoen was the main reason for a

considerable growth in rail traffic, while

air traffic increased by three per cent. Road

traffic between Norway and abroad rose

by 11 per cent in 1999. Short shopping trips

by Norwegians account for most of this

increase.

Domestic transport of goods increased

by one per cent in 1999. The quantity of

Authors: Arne RidengSeries: TØI report 487/2000Language: Norwegian with English

summary

freight to and from the mainland show only

small changes compared with the level in

1997 and 1998.

Access roads in residential areas and streets in shopping areas ought to have a speed limit of

30 km/h.



Annotated reports from the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute

Authors: Marieke H. MartensSeries: KFB & VTI forskning/re-

search 35ALanguage: English

Automatic information processing (AVIP)

in traffic refers to a driver state, in which

expectations have replaced a large part of

the active information intake exerted by a

highly attentive driver. Instead of actively

scanning the visual environment, the driver

only passively monitors the outside world,

requiring little attention.

The current report provides an overview

of several theoretical approaches that are

valuable when discussing the phenomenon

of automatic visual information process-

ing. The theoretical approaches that are

discussed are automatic performance, ex-

pectation approaches, signal detection

theory, visual search approaches and vigi-

lance research.

Besides a discussion of these theoreti-

cal approaches, different methods for

measuring attention, expectations or visual

information processing are discussed, all

with their advantages and their limitations.

The various methods that are described

are physiological measures (with most

promising results for measures dealing

with the central nervous system), spare

capacity measures (with the danger of in-

terfering with the automatic processing),

Automatic visual information processing and expectationsin Traffic eye movement measures (not being able to

distinguish between what one looks at and

what one perceives), verbal reports (not be-

ing able to find automatic processes) and

recording driving behaviour (with the dif-

ficult link between provided information

and the actual response).

Since all measures have their specific

limitations, combining these measures is

essential since they complement one an-

other. Although a lot of research touches

the subject of automatic visual information

processing and expectations in traffic,

many interesting research questions re-

main unanswered, leaving open a large

area for research.

Effects of tunnel wall pattern on simulated driving behaviour

The VTI researcher Jan Törnros has com-

pared speed reducing effects of various

wall or ceiling patterns in road tunnels.

The study was carried through in a driv-

ing simulator. 24 subjects (12 men, 12

women), aged 24–54, participated in a re-

peated measurements design.

Six patterns were compared with an

unpatterned tunnel as a control condition.

Behavioural effect measures were speed,

lateral position, position of gas pedal re-

lease, position of retardation initiation and

of maximal retardation, and maximal re-

tardation. It was also studied whether ac-

cess to speedometer readings would have

any effects.

It was found that wall and ceiling pat-

terns that preceded the curve did not show

any effects on speed choice. Only an ef-

fect of the tunnel tube was demonstrated.

Nor did lateral position variation differ

between patterns. Only the tunnel tube

was shown to have an effect.

Whether subjects had access to speed-

ometer readings or not, did not influence

any of the comparisons.

Subjective effects were also analysed.

The answers given by the subjects do not

seem to favour any particular pattern over

any other, even if there was a tendency

that the unpatterned condition and the

condition with a narrow ceiling pattern

were regarded to cause more sensations of

unpleasantness. A majority of the subjects

indicated that the patterns had a speed re-

ducing effect with a narrow wall pattern

and narrow wall/ceiling pattern receiving

a few more votes than other pattern con-

ditions - a result that was not confirmed

by the behavioural analyses.

Authors: Jan TörnrosSeries: VTI EC Research 9Language: English

PHOTO: STAFFAN GUSTAVSSON, REDAKTA


Annotated reports from the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute

Dynamic vehicle reactions on the Ruch type of S-shapedsuperelevation rampsThis paper, presented at the international

railway conference Comprail -2000 in

Bologna, reports an applied study based

on principles derived in VTI rapport 420A,

421A and 424A.

The S-shaped superelevation ramps

have been believed to result in more fa-

vourable vehicle reactions than ramps

where superelevation and curvature

change linearly (with respect to longitudi-

nal distance). These ideas were tested al-

ready during 1998 and results were re-

ported in VTI Särtryck 318. In the study

from 1998, no substantial advantages were

found with the S-shaped ramps.

The specific aspect of the present study

is whether the horizontal curvature of the

track should be related to the rails or to a

level above the rails, i.e. the height of the

mass centre of the entire vehicle or the

wheelsets.

Vehicle reactions have been simulated

with the multibody computer code

GENSYS and evaluated according to draft

standards from the CEN and the UIC. Ve-

hicle models for the Eurofima standard

coach (UIC Z1) and the X2000 tilting

trainset have been used.

The results indicate that vertical track

forces are almost independent of the height

of the path of the horizontal alignment,

while lateral track forces are sometimes

slightly worse and sometimes slightly bet-

ter with S-shaped ramps than linear ramps.

Passenger comfort is not significantly im-

proved with the S-shaped ramps.

The most important conclusion from the

present study is that it cannot be proved

that S-shaped ramps can be used as sub-

stitutes for linear ramps with sufficient

lengths for high speed traffic. The main

task in track design is to find optimal com-

binations of curve radii and lengths of tra-

ditional linear superelevation ramps and

corresponding type of transition curves.

Authors: Björn KufverSeries: Computers in Railways VII.

Southampton: WIT Press,pp663-672.

Language: English

This publication is to be seen both as an

overall description of a specific freight

transport forecasting system and as an in-

troduction to most of the other publica-

tions on the subject “Transport demand

of the economy” of which this publica-

tion is a part.

The aim of the freight transport fore-

casting system is to provide an overall,

and as far as possible consistent, descrip-

tion of the demand for freight transport in

Sweden and between Sweden and other

countries.

The model is based on a base year with

known freight transport flows and a

known description of the economy and the

development of the economy up to the

forecast year. For the description of the

goods flows of the base year, data are

needed regarding the transport pattern (to/

from relationships), disaggregated into

mode and type of product. Economic

growth is measured in terms of produc-

tion, consumption, final use, import and

export. All variables are disaggregated

into type of industry. The forecasting

model also needs other economic statis-

tics such as employment per type of busi-

ness and region, and values of goods for

the base year and forecast year.

Obviously, the development of the

economy in future is unknown; it will vary

depending on a large number of factors.

The model system therefore makes “con-

ditional forecasts”. This means that differ-

ent future scenarios are constructed to deal

with this uncertainty. By defining differ-

ent alternative courses of development,

VTI/TPR-model – A forecasting system for freight transport

which are based on reasonable assump-

tions, alternative forecasts are obtained.

Finally, the software and its user inter-

face are presented.

Authors: Jan R. ErikssonSeries: KFB & VTI forskning/re-

search 31Language: Swedish with an English

summary

PHOTO: CHRISTER TONSTRÖM, MEDIABILD


Questions concerning the content of the articles, or orders for the publicationsreferred to, should be directed to the publishing institution, see addresses below.

REQUESTS FOR BACK ISSUES, AND NOTIFICATION OF ADDRESS CHANGES:Readers outside the Nordic countries: see Swedish address.Readers in the Nordic countries: see addresses below.

Web site: www.vti.se/nordic

Helen Hasz-SinghDanish Road InstituteP.O. Box 235DK-4000 RoskildePhone: + 45 46 30 70 00Fax: + 45 46 30 71 05E-mail: [email protected]

Harald AasInstitute of Transport Economics (TØI)P.O. Box 6110 EtterstadN-0602 OsloPhone: + 47 22 57 38 00Fax: + 47 22 57 02 90Order phone: + 47 22 57 39 13E-mail: [email protected]

Kari MäkeläVTT, Communities and InfrastructureP.O. Box 1901FIN-02044 VTTPhone: + 358 9 45 64 586Fax: + 358 9 46 41 74E-mail: [email protected]

Helge HolteNorwegian Public Roads Administra-tionP.O. Box 8142 Dep.N-0033 OsloPhone: + 47 22 07 39 00Fax: + 47 22 07 34 44E-mail: [email protected]

Hreinn HaraldssonPublic Roads AdministrationBorgartún 7IS-105 ReykjavikPhone: + 354 563 1400Fax: + 354 562 2332E-mail: [email protected]

Sigvard TimSwedish National Road andTransport Research Institute (VTI)SE-581 95 LinköpingPhone: + 46 13 20 40 00Fax: + 46 13 14 14 36Order phone: + 46 13 20 42 24E-mail: [email protected]

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Nordic Road and Transport Research 3-2000