2019

Forest Road Maintenance in Winter

JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) plans and regularly performs snow clearing from forest roads in order to ensure uninterrupted economic activity, often also facilitating mobility opportunities for local residents.

By mid-January, in Vidzeme region work assignments had been given to clear snow from forest roads in the length of 2009 km and to perform road creasing in the length of 36 km. Currently, more than half of the planned road length has been cleared of snow, including repeatedly cleaned road sections.

"We are working hard in Vidzeme region to make snowy forest roads accessible and safe for drivers. Service providers clean twenty kilometres per day in one forest district. In the eastern side of Vidzeme, the most important roads have already been cleaned several times," says Jānis Upens, LVM Vidzeme Region Forest Infrastructure Manager.

Forest roads that are used for timber transportation near inhabited areas are cleared of snow first. "In snowy winters, the importance of cooperation with local authorities is of key importance. Understanding the main business of our company, it is clear that not only LVM forest roads are cleaned from snow; we often also organise cleaning of municipal roads that are used to deliver timber from forest. Thus, it is only natural for local governments to engage in repeated cleaning of the road sections that are essential for the local population," adds Jānis Upens.

Also in other LVM regions, maintenance work on forest roads is very active during the winter season. Roads are cleaned in the width of the carriageway, as well as at the vehicle turning points.