Allows different track depths on different highways

When the PPP highway between Grimstad and Kristiansand opened in 2009, 25 millimetres was the maximum track depth the road could have before it had to be resurfaced. The same limit was contracted for all three PPP sections that were completed around the same time.

In 2011, however, the Directorate of Public Roads changed the limit to 20 millimeters for major highways. However, this had no impact on the PPP contracts, and the Directorate of Public Roads has shown no willingness to change this, according to Veier24.

The complaints have been many and loud, and even local politicians have taken the initiative to sort things out. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Agder OPS negotiated an agreement to change the limit for maximum track depth to 20 millimetres, but this was rejected centrally.

- The procedures are such that the Norwegian Public Roads Administration measures the track depth in April each year," Jan Walle, CEO of Agder OPS, explains to Veier24.

- The measurement results are given as an average per kilometer, not as point measurements. Repaving must take place when the average measurements show a rut depth of 25 millimetres or more - not if only the occasional point is discovered that is deeper than the requirement. The April measurements form the basis for planned paving in the coming calendar year and the new road surface must be completed before July 1," he says.

However, the PPP director would have liked to see the road paved before the tracks became so deep.

- "We want to have the same track depth requirements as the rest of Norway, and have worked hard to achieve this. But every time we are met by a cold shoulder from the Directorate of Public Roads," Walle tells Agderposten.

Link to article in veier24.no