Road quality

In English  · Published 23.02.2016

Pertti Virtala, Product Manager at Destia, is one of the people who ensure consistent road quality across Finland.

Virtala starts each day by studying the control board on the wall in a corridor. It indicates where Destia’s road information measurement teams are working and how projects are progressing in different parts of Finland.

“I like coming to work because the indicators show that everything is running smoothly. Any issues are addressed without delay,” says Virtala.

Pertti Virtala holds an MSc (Tech.) in Civil Engineering. He has focused on road conditions – grooves, unevenness and surface damage – practically from the beginning of his career.

He previously worked for the Finnish Road Administration, strongly developing the maintenance of paving, bridges and gravel roads. Thanks to his input, action plans for road maintenance could be based on measured data in addition to subjective assessments provided by paving engineers.

As a result, road quality is now highly consistent across the country. Surprisingly to some, better road quality also means lower maintenance costs.

Photo: Pertti Virtala has had a long career focusing on road conditions. Virtala holds a picture of himself as a young boy.