A fresh report from the Finnish Transport Agency reveals that 630 bridges have fallen into a "bad" or "very bad" state of disrepair, and large stretches of Finland's 27,000 kilometres of unpaved gravel roads are in terrible condition.
The agency updated its evaluation of the condition of Finland's transport infrastructure in mid-August.
It emphasises that none of the bridges on the list are in danger of collapse, however. At present, 451 bridges that have been flagged have been assigned weight restrictions (list in Finnish), but Minna Torkkeli, head of the agency's bridge unit, says drivers do not always comply with them.
"We try to tell the drivers of vehicles carrying heavy goods that they could potentially destroy the bridges, but the weight restrictions are ignored nonetheless – just like other traffic rules," she says.
In extreme cases, bridges are closed. The last time this took place was in last autumn in the western town of Pomarkku, where a century-old stone bridge fell into such a decrepit state that it had to be dismantled.
The Finnish Transport Agency reports that there are over 15,000 bridges connecting roadways in Finland, so the percentage of bridges in disrepair works out to less than five percent.
Finland allows heavy lorries to use the roads
Finland allows some of the heaviest lorries in Europe to traverse the country, putting strain on its transportation routes. Torkkeli says EU directives require roads in the European Union to withstand traffic from 40 tonne vehicles, but in Finland, transport trucks can carry loads weighing up to 76 tonnes.
Last spring's thaw caused the worst damage to Finland's roads system in 20 years and the Finnish Transport Agency says in its August update that the summer's hot and dry weather has also taken its toll.
Timo Hyvönen from the Central Finland ELY regional government centre says that road maintenance workers have received many complaints this summer about dust and ripples on the road surface, known as washboarding. He says the dry conditions have prevented any major repair projects from getting started.
"Complaints about the condition of gravel roads are up 30 percent on last year," he says.
More heavy graders are needed
Esa Mäntynen, a road maintenance machinery supplier in Central Finland's municipality of Saarijärvi says he can't think of a time when the roads have been in such bad shape.
The Finnish Transport Agency reports that subcontractors have taken to levelling the gravel roads with equipment that is too light, as the industry's uncertain future keeps them from investing in the kinds of heavy-duty graders that would do the job properly.
Finland's gravel roads have traditionally been maintained with massive 20-tonne graders that are heavy enough to level off road surfaces to a sufficient depth. Their 350,000-euro price tag has made them rare among Finland's road maintenance contractors, however.
Road maintenance is the responsibility of the ELY regional government centres, but the work has been tendered out to contractors in Finland for two decades already. Mäntynen says increased competition has driven prices down, and this is why the situation has become so dire.
"It is sick, to speak frankly. No one can do the work properly at the current price level," he says.
2.5 billion in repairs are necessary
Pekka Rajala, a road maintenance analyst for the Finnish Transport Agency, says that the current infrastructure deficit in Finland stands at 2.5 billion euros. In 2014, a parliamentary working group arrived at a slightly lower number.
"And the repair deficit programme hasn't even extended to the gravel roads, as they are part of the smaller roads network," he says.
Another parliamentary group proposed last spring that 300 million euros annually would be directed to improving road works in the remotely-populated areas.
"That's pretty much the amount of money that is needed," says Rajala.