{"id":7144,"date":"2024-10-21T14:07:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T14:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icebound.com\/kunskap\/a-well-managed-forest-starts-with-a-good-road\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T08:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:14:16","slug":"a-well-managed-forest-starts-with-a-good-road","status":"publish","type":"case","link":"https:\/\/www.icebound.com\/en\/knowledge\/a-well-managed-forest-starts-with-a-good-road\/","title":{"rendered":"A well-managed forest starts with a good road!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A well-managed forest starts with a good road!<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n

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Article by: Gustav Karlefors<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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A well-managed forest starts with a good road!<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n

Forest roads in Sweden have deteriorated over the past 30 years. An analysis by the Swedish Forest Agency shows that heavier vehicles, less maintenance, poor coordination and climate change are some of the reasons. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Swedish forest roads play a crucial role both for society in general and for the forest industry in particular. Sweden’s road network is dominated by private roads. Of the total road network, about 14,000 miles are state roads, 4,000 miles are municipal roads and the remainder, about 43,000 miles, are private roads. Of these private roads, about half, or about 21 000 miles, are forest roads. Private roads are not maintained by the state or municipalities, but by, for example, road associations, individual landowners or other organizations. <\/p>\n

The maintenance of individual roads has been and still is inadequate, contributing significantly to their continued deterioration. In addition to poor maintenance, there are other reasons why the road network has deteriorated recently. Climate change has resulted in shorter winters in northern Sweden, and in the southern parts of the country, roads can no longer be expected to be tarred during the winter. This means that a greater proportion of forestry transport is on untarred roads, which has led to increased stress on the roads as measures to increase load-bearing capacity have not been carried out to a sufficient extent. Other problems arising from climate change are that it rains more and the rain that comes is more intense. The motto that water is the worst enemy of the road still applies today. More rain combined with poorly maintained ditches and undersized culverts has resulted in weaker roads. In some extreme cases, the increased rainfall combined with poor drainage has even made some roads unusable as parts of the road have been washed away by the increased water. <\/p>\n

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Furthermore, a large part of our forest roads were built during the period 1950-1990 and these roads were then built for lighter vehicles than those that use the roads today. As vehicles have become heavier and larger, wear and tear has increased because the roads have not been upgraded to the higher demands of modern vehicles. <\/p>\n

It has become a perfect storm. Roads have not been maintained to the extent needed, climate change has reduced the carrying capacity of roads, and vehicles have become heavier and larger. <\/p>\n

Road maintenance is a good investment<\/h3>\n

Road maintenance and upgrading involve costs, but the benefits of strong and good roads far outweigh the costs.<\/p>\n