Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic - This year's winter was strained not only drivers, but also the Road and Motorway Directorate budget

During the 2008/2009 winter season, the Czech Road and Motorway Directorate expended a total of 1.050 billion crowns for maintaining class I roads (as opposed to 700 million crowns in 2007/2008). The amount expended on motorways and high-speed roads was 219 million crowns (108 million crowns last year). "It should be clear to everyone that this year's winter was diametrically opposed to last year's - and this fact was reflected in the volume of financial resources invested into winter maintenance for which we are responsible, with the total amount coming to 1.27 billion crowns," explains the directorate's Director General Alfred Brunclík.

Road workers encountered the greatest onslaught in February 2009, which was one of the most costly winter months in history, characterized by long and dense snowfall that naturally was reflected in the directorate's statistics. Records of winter maintenance works show that, during February 2009, snowplows and salting equipment covered a total of 226,500 kilometers and another 68,200 kilometers of inspection tours on the directorate's 766 kilometers of motorways and high-speed roads alone. This equals an average of almost 10,000 kilometers just on motorways and high-speed roads each day. A summary of maintenance works for February 2009 can be found in Appendix no. I.

This year's winter season would seem to be definitely over, and all maintenance efforts are currently focused on repairs and summer maintenance over the course of 2009. For these activities, the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure has set aside a total of 4.1 billion crowns for motorways, high-speed roads, and class I roads in 2009. "Of course, this is a minimum amount. We will try to negotiate additional funding over the course of the year," says Brunclík. The directorate had the same budget at the start of 2008, but over subsequent months was able to increase this amount by another billion crowns by the end of the year.

Also interesting are statistics comparing requests for the repair and maintenance of class I roads from the directorate's various regional offices. The largest amounts were requested by the Pardubice (a total of 919 million) and Vysočina (873 million crowns) regional offices. The least amount, on the other hand, was requested by the Zlín regional office (365 million crowns). A table of the exact amounts requested by the various regions can be found in Appendix no. II.

According to the directorate's management there are other statistics worth looking at besides increased maintenance costs - in particular, accident statistics, which clearly show that road workers excellently mastered the most recent winter. "In addition to our employees' working engagement, I also have to emphasize the benefits brought to the country's highways by new technological systems. In particular, thanks to the new telematics safety system, we recorded fewer accidents at the turn of the year than during the previous winter season," says Brunclík.

The greatest contribution in this regard was by the Uniform Traffic Information System, which provides up-to-date traffic information so that drivers can, before or during their trip, make driving decisions and adjust their routes and driving style according to the current situation on the roads.
"The Uniform Traffic Information System will continue to be developed, in particular as regards the quantity and quality of traffic information and the further development of telematics applications," adds Brunclík.

Appendix no. I - summary of road maintenance works in February 2009
(posyp = salting; pluh = plowing)





Appendix no. II - summary of amount of funding requested from the various regions for the repair and maintenance of class I roads (in thousands of CZK)