The E8 from Skibotn in Norway to Kolari in Finland is known Aurora Borealis, a Finnish-Norwegian collaboration to develop and test ITS solutions on challenging winter roads.
ITS is an umbrella term used for technology and computer systems in the transport sector. For road users and transport operators, ITS can make the drive safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. For those who operate and maintain the road, ITS can make it easier to implement the right measures at the right time.
Arctic test road
The pilot project on the 48-kilometre-long road from Skibotn to Kilpisjärvi has been named Borealis. The corresponding Finnish project on the 280-kilometre-long road continuing to Kolari is called Aurora.
The Finnish Transport Agency has made ten kilometres of the Aurora road into a test road, where public and private technology developers can test and develop ITS solutions under arctic conditions on roads with heavy traffic.
Infrastructure preparations
The test section, which was opened in November 2017, has been fully developed and provided with electricity and fibre cables. Lengthwise and crosswise on this ten-kilometre-long road there are also almost 50 kilometres of ducts for cable pulling, which have ample room for the equipment from a number of digital innovators. The same goes for the new roadside masts, and the technical building at the start of the road, just north of the town of Muonio.
- We only use a small part of this infrastructure ourselves. What is most important on this test road is to prepare the ground for others who need first-hand experience from ITS technology under challenging and rapidly changing winter conditions, says Project Manager Niklas Fieandt of the Finnish Transport Agency.
Open data
The Finnish Transport Agency has still installed some technology along the test road, in order to provide basic data for others who wish to use it. This basis technology comprises weather stations that provide real-time information on weather and road surface conditions, traffic counters, weighing points, high-accuracy positioning, and lasers that register the vehicles’ position on the road.
Laser scanning is among the basic technology that is already in place on the Aurora test road.- Other contributors’ technologies will come in addition to this. For the ITS sector, it is of great value to gather technologies in one place, to see if they can work together. We share all our data, and encourage as well as facilitate the same kind of sharing for others who use the test road, obviously within the limits posed by business secrets and business development.
FACTS ABOUT ITS
- Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is the umbrella term for technology and computer systems in the transport sector. In an ITS system, communication can flow from one vehicle to another, from the vehicle to the roadway or from the roadway to the vehicle.
- Examples of ITS technology are real-time information about weather, road surface conditions and traffic accidents; variable message signs that allow the traffic user to make smarter choices; bluetooth and radio technology that calculate driving time on the basis of traffic, weather and road surface conditions; automatic scanning of the vehicle’s brakes; and warnings of wildlife and other obstacles on the roadway.
- The goal of ITS technology is twofold: For road users and transport operators, ITS can make the drive safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. For those who operate and maintain the road, ITS can make it easier to to implement the appropriate measures at an early stage.
FACTS ABOUT THE BOREALIS PILOT PROJECT
- The E8 from Skibotn to Kilpisjärvi is one of five Norwegian road sections selected as pilots for the development and testing of ITS solutions in Norway.
- This road was selected for its socio-economic significance. It is a road with demanding winter conditions and a large share of heavy vehicles; 26 percent of all traffic. This share of heavy vehicles has increased by more than 70 percent since 2010.
- On the road between Skibotn and Kilpisjärvi, the NPRA will test, demonstrate and evaluate different ITS solutions over the next few years.
- In the first year, the NPRA estimates that it will spend up to NOK 30 million on developing new and testing known ITS solutions on this road. The pilot project may be prolonged by several years, which will mean further development and testing of ITS systems.
- The Norwegian pilot project from Skibotn to Kilpisjärvi has been named Borealis. Finland has a corresponding project, named Aurora, for the section running from Kilpisjärvi to Kolari. A three-year agreement for the Finnish-Norwegian cooperation project Aurora Borealis was signed in the Finnish city of Muonio in February 2016.
