Linking safety and efficiency across Latvian roads

How Latvia is maintaining safe winter roads while saving time and materials with RWS200

The client: Latvian State Roads
Vaisala provided: Road Weather Station RWS200

A road weather network with data gaps

Tucked between the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia’s roads link medieval with modern architecture, rural areas with bustling cities, and local government with world leaders.

To serve the growing country, Latvian State Roads oversees and manages the entire road network. The organization already had a road weather network in place, using road weather stations and viewing data through Vaisala RoadDSS Navigator, which gave them visibility of road weather conditions in some areas that are subject to ice and snow in winter. However, there were data gaps in other areas that required human observation to gauge conditions and make road treatment decisions.

Latvian State Roads primarily relied on road maintenance engineers driving through the road network to maintain safe winter driving conditions — a process that led to inefficient use of driving time and overuse of materials. Through a tender process the organization selected Reck, a local Vaisala partner and leading energy construction service provider, to help them strengthen their road weather network with additional road weather stations in the right locations.

Top accuracy, quality and reliability

The Vaisala Road Weather Station RWS200 was the clear winner in this tender, providing unparalleled reliability and uptime for the greatest decision-making confidence with minimal disruption.

The industry’s most reliable, accurate road weather station includes high-grade components and materials built to withstand almost anything nature can throw at them. The RWS200 is easily expandable and upgradable if observation requirements change.

"The quality and capabilities of RWS200 are really impressive. We are proud to partner with Vaisala and offer solutions that help our customer deliver the highest standards of winter road maintenance, all while saving time and using materials in a more environmentally sensitive manner."
Ainars Grinbergs, LTD "RECK" Head of Equipment Sales Department

Higher safety, quality and confidence

System alerts empower them to make accurate decisions on how to maintain the roads for the most efficient use of time and materials: This is especially important as a separate agency completes winter road maintenance. With the solution in place, Vaisala is helping to train the customer in efficient use of the system. This is a critical part of success, as thousands of people are involved in making roads safer in Latvia. As a result, there is more clarity and agreement on what needs to be done and when.

Service quality and the environment have risen in importance, and standards are also rising — which gives everyone confidence in maintaining safe roads in any weather.

Higher efficiency plus improved mobility

The Vaisala RWS200 road weather station network is also connected to variable message and warning signs on the main road ITS pilot projects. This allows them to maintain traffic flow efficiently and safely, despite adverse weather conditions such as low visibility, torrential rains or high winds.

The project not only fosters safe passenger and cargo transport, but also lowers CO2 emissions by reducing road transportation times.