Road weather co-operation enhances traffic safety on border areas of Finland and Russia
Green InterTraffic project continues furthermore by developing precipitation forecasts which are beneficial during snowfall in winter and heavy rain or thundershowers during the summertime. Photo: ShutterstockWeather has a great impact on road transport safety in general, but especially during harsh winter conditions. Therefore, high-quality road weather information is a prerequisite for ensuring smooth and safe travel. Within the CBC Green InterTraffic project road weather services along E18 have been developed together with Russian project partners. Road weather observations and forecasts are feasible for all road users, freight transport, tourists and citizens living in the border area.
As a result of the co-operation between Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Institute of Radar Meteorology (IRAM), Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other project partners road weather information is more feasible as all information is gathered to the project webpage. Road weather products include for example air temperature and road surface temperature observations and forecast. Nowcasting along the road E18 is updated every 10 minutes.
One significant example the close co-operation is road weather and radar data exchange between FMI and IRAM to benefit project work.
“For the first time, road weather observations, radar data and forecast have been exchanged between Finland and Russia along the road E18 to this extend according to our knowledge”, says Ida-Reetta Virranjoki, Account Manager at FMI.
Precipitation forecasts will be added to the service
Project work continues furthermore by developing precipitation forecasts which are beneficial during snowfall in winter and heavy rain or thundershowers during the summertime. The forecasts are based on weather radar data from both Finnish and Russian radar network. Project partners are also preparing educational lectures to stakeholders in order to increase knowledge of the newly development services and methods. Traffic emissions and their effect on air quality are also assessed in the Green InterTraffic project started in December 2018.
“Foundations for sustainable development are established in this project that aims to enhance environmentally friendly cross-border traffic”, tells Emmi Laukkanen, Project Manager at FMI. "Thanks to the professionalism and activity of the project partners, we were able to implement virtually unique developments in the field of road weather observations and forecast. We hope that the resources presented on the project's website will be in demand by road users in both Russia and Finland. This will be an important step in implementing the main goals of the project – improving transport and environmental safety of cross-border transport and developing long-term cooperation between our countries in this area", comments Project Manager, Vice-President of the SPbCCI Ludmila Karelina.
Further information:
Account Manager Ida-Reetta Virranjoki, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Customer Services, ida-reetta.virranjoki@fmi.fi, tel. +358 29 539 3105 Project Manager Emmi Laukkanen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Expert Services, emmi.laukkanen@fmi.fi, tel. +358 50 592 9178 Forecast products in Finland have been produced by FMI and in Russia by IRAM. Road observations in Finland have been provided by Traffic Management Finland and in Russia by Federal Highway Administration North-West N. V. Smirnov Federal Road Agency. Enhancing environmental safety of road Intertraffic in the border areas of Russia and Finland applying innovation solutions – Green InterTraffic consists of Finnish-Russian consortium of partners: Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland, Helsinki), Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland, Kouvola), Saint-Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Russia, St. Petersburg), Saint-Petersburg State University (Russia, St. Petersburg), Institute of Radar Meteorology, Transport Integration Ltd. (Russia, St. Petersburg). The funding of the Project Green InterTraffic is provided from the South-East Finland-Russia CBC Programme 2014-2020, and the Project implementation period is from December 01, 2018 to November 30, 2020.