A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region
quarter of total roads in Sweden in 2008, they were subject to 70 percent of road usage.
State roads include European highways, national roads and other country roads, all of which
are managed by STA.
Quality of the Network
Of the total state road network in Sweden, a road length of 78,634 km (79.9 percent) is
paved. Most unpaved roads in Sweden are found in the forest counties, and are given
priority for maintenance.
Road quality in Sweden is defined by winter road conditions, road surface smoothness, and
friction and bearing capacity restrictions. Roughness is measured quantitatively along a
scale of the International Roughness Index (IRI) based on vehicle cost and travel speed of
the road in question. New roads are assigned an IRI of 1, the poorest roads a 5. In Sweden,
priority is given to those roads with IRI of more than 4. These are primarily found in forest
counties with traffic volumes of below 2,000 vehicles per day. Rut depth is also measured,
identifying those roads with ruts of more than 15 mm.
Government Policy for the Road Sector
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications has sole responsibility for national
transport policy. Once policy has been designed, and refined to include stakeholder
feedback, it is the task of the Parliamentary Committee of Transport and Communications
to give approval.
At the government level, transport policy objectives are set for periods of 10 years. SRA
advised and drafted the outlines policy objectives, technical standards and performance
indicators as stipulated by the Swedish Parliament. It formulated the Government’s National
Road Transport Plan for approval by the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament). It proposed policy
objectives and actions to achieve these objectives, including the main road construction
works for the coming years. The Riksdag gave approval for the most recent policy plan in
March 2009.
The focal points of this plan are:
Accessibility: good quality transport for everyone, gender-equality, and special
attention to the disabled and children as transport users; and
Health, Safety and Environment: reduce fatal and serious accidents by 50 percent from
2007 to 2020.
Safety on the roads is a major guiding theme in policy formalization. The Vision Zero project,
started in 1997, laid the foundation for a strategic approach to road safety policy in Sweden.
The global objective is to achieve a road system where no one is at risk of fatal or severe
injury. From this foundation, interim goals are formulated at different institutional levels.
C.3.2 Introduction to the Swedish Transport Administration
Strategy
The STA has the task of ensuring a holistic approach to the transport system across all
modes. This new approach should also achieve a clearer customer perspective, a stronger
regional base, greater organizational efficiency and support for innovation and productivity
in the construction industry. The STA has the following vision, mission and objectives:
138