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A Forest Road Built on Logs has been Put into Operation in Viesīte Forest District

Following the successful completion of 10 months of construction works a new forest road “Kūdreņu ceļš” was put into operation in Viesīte Forest District of JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) in the Southern Latgale region. Due to the low bearing capacity of the soil, a special solution – a log deck – was used in the construction of the 1.7 km long road.

At the construction site, the bearing capacity of the soil was particularly low – with a layer of peat 1 to 4.5 metres deep.

“We already have experience in using log decking in soils with low bearing capacity, but unlike other facilities where we only cover certain sections of the roadway with logs, for this facility, the log deck was planned for the entire length of the road and also in extensions and exits. Therefore, the total area of the log deck reaches 1.3 hectares. If the logs were stacked one behind the other, their length would be almost 170 km, which is equivalent to the distance from Līvāni to Riga,” says Māris Matisāns, Head of Forest Infrastructure in LVM Latgale Region.

“We already have experience in using log decking in soils with low bearing capacity, but unlike other facilities where we only cover certain sections of the roadway with logs, for this facility, the log deck was planned for the entire length of the road and also in extensions and exits. Therefore, the total area of the log deck reaches 1.3 hectares. If the logs were stacked one behind the other, their length would be almost 170 km, which is equivalent to the distance from Līvāni to Riga,” says Māris Matisāns, Head of Forest Infrastructure in LVM Latgale Region.