Presentation of the Association www.NordFoU.org Presentation of the Association

NordFoU’s mission and vision NordFoU is a co-operation between the national Nordic road administrations to initialize, finance and run R&D projects. Vision: To run and develop R&D with respect to innovation, synergy and development of Nordic R&D environments for the benefit of the Nordic road and traffic systems.

What is NordFoU? A co-operation between the national road and transport administrations in the Nordic countries (Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). Founded in 2004 In 2013 NordFoU became an independent association under Danish law

NordFoU’s project funding Projects are financed by national road/transport authorities, NordFoU is not a fund The common pot system is used in the majority of the projects The common pot system: The financial partners establish a project fund. The scientific partners gets reimbursed from this fund. Any unused funds are reverted back to the original donor

What is NordFoU? The purpose of the co-operation is to create research and development synergies within the areas which present shared challenges and needs between the Nordic countries. NordFoU’s business area is primarily joint research projects between the six Nordic road and transport administrations (the NordFoU partners).

NordFoU’s organisation

NordFoU’s project portfolio Current research topics include: Winter maintenance Road infrastructure Climate change solutions for roads and road transport Environmental research Road technology research

NordFoU’s projects NordFoU’s project portfolio currently consist of 8 research and development projects. Please see the website for project descriptions: http://www.nordfou.org/projects/Sider/default.aspx The website also contains an overview of our closed projects: http://www.nordfou.org/knowledge/Sider/default.aspx

NordFoU’s base organisation Members of all NordFoU activities are officially nominated members of road/transport authorities NordFoU’s base organisation consist of a Steering Committee, a Task Force and a Secretariat The base organisation is responsible for strategic planning, project proposals, follow-up on ongoing projects and coordination of other joint Nordic R&D activities The base organisation is also responsible for setting up and handling management control, financing and financial reporting for projects within the auspices of NordFoU

NordFoU’s project organisation A project manager is appointed to each project. The project manager is responsible for the project (meeting deadlines, goals and budget) A project steering committee is set up for each project. The project steering committee is responsible for securing the successful delivery of the project and making the necessary recommendations to the project

NordFoU’s Chair The chair rotates between the Nordic road and transport administrations A new chair is appointed annualy Finland currently (July 2019- June 2020) holds the chair

​NordFoU’s project portfolio The project portfolio currently consists of ten projects. Please find a summary of each project on the next slides.    (Photo:  

​NorSIKT IP The main purpose of NorSIKT IP is to ensure implementation of the main results in the NorSIKT I and NorSIKT II projects. The technology develops steadily and it is a goal for NorSIKT IP to stay updated on new solutions that can supplement existing systems or replace traditional technology. One of the aims for NorSIKT IP is to establish routines on permanent basis for calculating Nordic speed barometer and Nordic barometer for change in total vehicle mileage. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Faroe Island    (Photo: Torgeir Vaa) 

​NorDust (Road dust emission, modelling and mitigation in Nordic conditions) The project will bring together Nordic expertise in the area of road dust to further develop the modelling tools necessary for the efficient and effective reduction of road dust emissions. The project will achieve this through a set of experimental work packages looking at processes related to road wear, road dust suspension, wet removal processes, monitoring methods and road maintenance and operation techniques. The experiments and monitoring campaigns are intended to fill in existing knowledge gaps, identified in previous studies, and the results of these experiments will be used to improve the modelling tools used for predicting road dust emissions. Typical processes to be investigated include road wear dependence on stud and tyre types, wear and suspension due to pavement properties and texture, optimising the needs for both reduced wear and noise, wet removal processes of dust and salt, road dust loading distributions and measurements, road operation impacts such as cleaning, dust binding and the contribution of traction sanding. Participating countries: ​Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland (Photo: Sami Kulovuori, Metropolia)

​HERO (Heating Road with Stored Solar Energy) The overall aim is to reduce accidents and improve accessibility caused by snow and ice. Furthermore, the technical design and different materials for various applications will be investigated, and the purpose is also to optimize the system performance for the road together with heat source and to develop the control and regulation of the energy demand, which along with climate forecast is of fundamental importance for the functioning, effectiveness and efficiency. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Norway and Sweden    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet) 

​Durability (Durability of pavements that reduces noise and rolling resistance) The DURAPAV project will investigate durability of rolling resistance and noise reducing pavements through accelerated testing. The circular testing facility at VTI is seen as excellent equipment for performing accelerated testing, which can identify potential weaknesses and predict pavement failure. The DURAPAV project will, based on the accelerated tests, seek to enhance the durability for pavement types with low rolling resistance and noise properties by optimizing the polymer distribution and mixture adhesion of the asphalt material. As the pavements need a small texture depth to provide lower rolling resistance and reducing noise, there is a potential risk of skidding problems and other surface defects. The mix design is therefore a delicate matter to secure all functional properties for the entire life time of the pavement. A lifetime that needs to be comparable with the life time of traditionally used wearing courses of 12 – 15 years. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Sweden and Faroe Island    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet)

​RMMS (Road Markings Management System) The aim of the project is to design and develop a user friendly asset management system for road markings.  The asset management system shall provide road administrations with a robust tool for performing better maintenance strategies and secure that the resources available are used where it is most needed. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Norway and Sweden    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet) 

​ROSTMOS (Road state monitoring system) The project objective is to develop a system for the registration / verification of road state that with high precision can monitor the condition of the road network in real-time. The project will demonstrate how road state data can be collected and linked with other information such as weather conditions and operational measures in the form of snow clearing and gritting. It will also be shown how road state data can be used to improve the prognosis for the development in the driving conditions. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Faroe Island    (Photo: Torgeir Vaa) 

​ROMA (State assessment of road markings in the Nordic countries) The visibility of a road marking is dependent of its retroreflectivity. Therefore, in order to ensure good visibility, there is a need of adequate maintenance routines. Furthermore, the road marking material must be of high quality, i.e. be resistant against wear from the traffic. The purpose of the study is to ensure good road marking visibility. If there is a difference in visibility between two or more countries, this should be explained: Is the difference due to the road marking material, maintenance routines, road marking area etc.? Moreover, the result can be used to distribute maintenance funds in such a way that the road marking quality will be similar in all countries. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Norway and Sweden    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet) 

​REHIRUP (Reducing highway runoff pollution) The REHIRUP project shall led to improved pollutant retention efficiencies, enhanced degradation of organic pollutants, optimized multiple use of the land utilized for runoff management, and a better utilization of resources. All these goals are to be reached in an improved environmentally and economically sustainable way. Pollution control and services to local ecosystems must be seen in a perspective where the complex interactions between pollutant sources, runoff, treatment, impacts, and services are addressed holistically and secured against impacts of future climate change. Participating countries: ​Denmark, Norway and Sweden    (Photo: Knut Opeide) 

​NordLCA (Life Cycle Analyses Tools to Assess Climate Impact of Road Building) Reduction of climate impact is highly prioritized, but we need methods and tools that help good decisions and choices through all processes from planning to designing and construction further to operation and maintenance. Existing tools have different background in their development because of their aim. They stand well alone but would gain of cross-linking. The Nordic countries have largely similar conditions in terms of road construction, raw materials and machinery. We therefore wish to further develop and link the respective Nordic tools, and create national adaptations.  Possible applications of the tools are: Environmental budget to be used by NRA internally Tender procedures (requirement or award criterion) Accounting for environment after/during construction Participating countries: Norway, Finland and Sweden    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet) 

EPAS 2 Participating countries: Norway, the Faroe Islands and Denmark The aim of EPAS 2 is to provide the road authorities with improved  knowledge based decision making within the field of winter maintenance (equipment, driving speed and use of salt). The project should provide answers on how to re-design the salt spreaders so that improved aerodynamics will allow higher speed. The project will develop a new mobile test unit which may quantify the discharge pattern and reproduce results over time  Participating countries: Norway, the Faroe Islands and Denmark    (Photo: Vejdirektoratet)