TOP 10 – Estonia's Smoothest Roads Built in 2022
Estonia's largest road sector expertise bureau, the state enterprise AS Teede Tehnokeskus, announced the winner of the "Smooth Road 2022" award based on 2022 road quality measurements – the Rakvere–Rannapungerja highway section, which was reconstructed by Verston OÜ.
According to Romet Raun, project manager at AS Teede Tehnokeskus, the company measures the quality of Estonia's new and reconstructed roads with specialized equipment, and smoothness is determined according to the international IRI (International Roughness Index) methodology. "In total, we measured smoothness this year on approximately 80 road sections across Estonia," said Raun.
"In 2022, the smoothest road built was located more precisely on the reconstructed section of the Rakvere–Rannapungerja state highway from the 10th to 15th kilometer, where the road surface smoothness index was measured at 0.60. This is a very good result, which significantly improves the driving comfort of the road section in question," said Raun.
"This time, the smoothest road sections were distributed relatively evenly across Estonia, which is a very welcome phenomenon from a regional development perspective. Also, based on the measurement results, it is positive to see that the quality of asphalt layer construction has improved significantly in Estonia in recent years," added Raun.
"If Verston OÜ, which earned the smoothest road award for the second year in a row, surpassed other competitors overwhelmingly this time, then from second place onwards, the competition was considerably tighter. Special mention should be made of the company KMG OÜ, which constructed as many as half of the road sections that made it into the rankings," said Raun.
"Asphalt layer construction is a complex and complicated process, which is why achieving a very smooth result requires significant investments and motivation from the builder. Based on the measurement results, we can see that Estonia's road builders maintain a consistently high standard. The only concern is the fact that road sector funding in the coming years will be unprecedentedly small, which puts the entire sector in an extremely difficult situation and, of course, the political steps taken will naturally be reflected in the near future in the condition of roads and infrastructure development," acknowledged the project manager of Teede Tehnokeskus.
- year new roads smoothness TOP 10
- Rakvere – Rannapungerja highway (km 10 – 15.2), Verston OÜ
- Pärnu – Rakvere – Sõmeru highway (km 42.2 – 48.5), KMG OÜ
- Kärdla – Käina highway (km 4.9 – 11.4), Tariston AS
- Ääsmäe – Haapsalu – Rohuküla highway (km 18.4 – 38.8), KMG OÜ
- Tallinn – Tartu – Võru – Luhamaa highway (km 64.2 – 80.2), GRK Eesti AS
- Tartu – Viljandi – Kilingi-Nõmme highway (km 58.8 – 69.3), KMG OÜ
- Võru – Kuigatsi – Tõrva highway (km 22.1 – 34.7), Verston OÜ
- Pärnu – Rakvere – Sõmeru highway (km 84.5 – 88), KMG OÜ
- Risti – Virstu – Kuivastu – Kuressaare highway (km 69.4 – 78.2), AS TREV-2 Grupp
- Pärnu – Rakvere – Sõmeru highway (72.5 – 74.8), KMG OÜ
The news includes a map of the year's smoothest new road sections and a photo of the freshly renovated Rakvere – Rannapungerja road section.
