OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 April 2009 was announced, that in March two highway engineers from Tennessee Department of Transportation (USA) Eric Michael Brown and Burel Wade Tidwell trained in our republic on the subject of Maintenance of Highways in Winter Period.

During the training they have learned about activity of Kola Highway Administration federal state institution and Traffic Administration Department state enterprise of the RK regarding execution of functions of the customer within the scope of maintenance of highways. In Kola administration they have also been presented the system of current traffic exploiting condition monitoring of Kola М-18 motorway. This system consists of the meteorological stations and videocameras located along the highway and allowing receive information on weather and road conditions at any time.

American colleagues have got acquainted with work of contract organizations in Prionezhsky, Lahdenpohja, Sortavala regions and Kostomuksha urban district. Thus, at the Kostomuksha Maintenance Depot enterprise they studied acpestc of of road machinery operation at execution of a work package on maintenance of highways during the winter period. Experts of Sortavala Maintenance Depot State Unitary Enterprise of the RK shared their experience and methods of routine inspection of condition of artificial constructions, and in Petrozavodsk Maintenance Depot they have been shown the GPS navigation system allowing to control work of road machinery and optimise expenses of the enterprise.

Results of training have been brought at a meeting in the Ministry of Construction of Karelia. American highway engineers have noted, that getting acquainted with practice of Karelian highway engineers they have derived a lot of new information for themselves. For example, use of mesh- and finger-type knifes on autograders to cut channels on the covering of roadway to reduce slipperiness of the slippery coat of ice has coaused their special interest. They have rated high the level of the maintenance of highways in the republic under conditions of limited financing and overall performance of the monitoring system of current traffic exploiting condition monitoring of Kola М-18 motorway, as well as GPS navigation systems for control of road machinery work.

By the end of the meeting the Deputy Minister of Construction of the RK Nikolay Skresanov has awarded them with certificates for success in training.