E18 in the Nordics: Moving at different speeds

While the Swedish Transport Administration plans to reduce the speed limit on certain stretches of European route E18 to adjust for road conditions and traffic, it might be interesting to note that Finland’s part of E18 is scheduled to be completed as a motorway in 2017.

European route E18 passes through Norway, Sweden and Finland and is an important infrastructure link for people, commodity producers, companies and markets which depend on an efficient transport route. Maintaining a secure and efficient E18 is naturally of common interest for the Nordic and Baltic countries.

E18 is part of the national road network and is an important transport route for national and regional traffic and for international traffic between Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The Swedish Transport Administration plans to lower the speed on E18 between Valnäsmotet and Töcksfors, a road stretch of 79 kilometres in western Sweden, in 2023. Speed limits will be increased after planned construction and maintenance work is finalised, reported Nya Värmlandstidningen on 11 March 2016.

Sweden’s Vision Zero programme seeks to eliminate traffic fatalities in the country, reminds Jimmy Janske, Manager of Region West at the Swedish Transport Administration.

“We really defend traffic security, and research shows that while modern cars can cope with frontal collisions at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, collisions at higher speeds lead to more serious damage and casualties”, says Janske.

“We have a road construction and maintenance plan with the authorities in the Wärmland region on how to prioritise investments. The plan is to increase speed limits again once construction and maintenance work is complete, to separate traffic moving in the opposite direction. Naturally we give E18 a high priority.”

In Finland, the 340-kilometre E18 has been built in four phases. Three of these phases have been built as public–private partnerships (PPP), a way of private financing that accelerates and brings forward public investments. NIB is financing all three projects.

One of these is the E18 Koskenkylä–Kotka motorway. The final stretches of the 53-kilometre highway between Koskenkylä and Kotka in southeast Finland were taken into use in September 2014, one month ahead of schedule. The motorway is the result of a public–private partnership (PPP) that includes all maintenance work until the end of 2026.

The life-cycle model is an agreement between the Finnish Transport Agency and the special purpose vehicle Tieyhtiö Valtatie 7 Ltd. The cost of the project is EUR 340 million, and the value of the service contract is approximately EUR 623 million.

“The PPP model has an excellent track record of delivering high quality road infrastructure in the Nordic countries”, says Joseph Wright, Senior Director, Head of Transaction and Portfolio Management at NIB.