Condition of the highway network

Condition of the highway network in 2021

• The highway maintenance backlog has taken an upturn due to reduced funding and is currently at approximately 1.6 billion euros. 
• Approximately 7,400 km of paved roads are in poor condition (13%), 950 km of which are on arterial roads. 
• The deterioration of arterial roads was stopped in 2020, and their condition can be maintained at the current level over the coming years.
• However, the surfaces of roads with low traffic volumes deteriorated in 2021. Surfaces in poor condition can be found around the country. 
• Structural improvement of paved roads requires investment in critical repairs of depressions, for example.
• Approximately 2,800 km of gravel roads are in poor condition (10%). The poor condition of gravel roads is especially inconvenient in the spring and autumn when frost damage occurs, making driving slower and more difficult. 
• Roughly 800 bridges are in poor condition (5%), 80 of which are on arterial roads. The condition of bridges has developed more favourably than that of the rest of the highway network, but a significant share of bridges built in the 1970s and 1980s will be needing comprehensive renovations in the coming years, which will increase the need for maintenance funding. 
• Approximately 730 km of walking and cycling routes are in poor condition (12%). Walking and cycling route maintenance strives to ensure that the routes can be used year round. The increase in the maintenance backlog of walking and cycling routes stopped in 2020 thanks to significant added investments.
• The satisfaction of road users with the condition of arterial routes has decreased considerably since 2010. Satisfaction with arterial roads increased slightly in 2020. The condition of the surface of low-volume roads is worse than that of arterial roads throughout Finland.

Development of the number of surfaces in poor condition

Hihgway surfaces in poor condition have roughly doubled in the last ten years. In 2020, funding was sufficient to make some repairs to surfaces, and the number of surfaces in poor condition started to decline for the first time in roughly ten years. The surface repair programme for 2021 was significantly shorter (2,700 km), leading to an increase of 350 km in surfaces in poor condition. Approximately 4,000 km of highways should be paved each year to keep the maintenance backlog from increasing.

The forecast for surface condition development has been presented in the following figure. The calculations are based on the assumption that the annual funding for basic route maintenance will be approximately 1.4 billion euros on average as of 2026. Prior to this, the funding will be in accordance with the 2022–2025 General Government Fiscal Plan (JTS).

The road network condition and service level will deteriorate in the first few years, but will start to improve towards the end of the period. Low-volume road networks, in particular, will need to increase weight and speed limits in the first few years. 

The ‘Sources and additional information’ section contains the condition classes of the surfaces of highways on the map. The roads with a very bad, poor, satisfactory, good or very good condition class are indicated on the map. The information on the condition of the surfaces is based on the situation on 31 December 2021, taking the paved sections for 2021 into account.