Industry
Winter MaintenanceThe Challenge
Ahead of the 2021/22 winter season, the City of Gothenburg launched a pilot to explore how additional data sources could complement existing workflows and support more efficient urban winter maintenance. With road conditions varying significantly across short distances, the city needed improved situational awareness to support daily decisions, without adding complexity to existing workflows.
The Results
Following a successful pilot, the City of Gothenburg entered into a 15-year collaboration. Winter Road Insights contributes to strengthened situational awareness in winter operations by providing vehicle-based road condition data that complements other decision-support tools. Together with forecasts and operational expertise, the insights help the city make informed day-to-day decisions and enable structured follow-up, supporting efficient management of urban winter maintenance.
Products Used
Winter Road Insights by NIRAWebsite
https://goteborg.se
About City of Gothenburg
The City of Gothenburg is one of Sweden’s largest municipalities, responsible for a complex urban road network that includes dense city streets, bridges, intersections, and high-traffic corridors. Ensuring safe and reliable winter conditions is a critical operational task, requiring careful balancing of safety, environmental impact, and resource use.
The Challenge
Ahead of the winter season 2021/22, the City of Gothenburg initiated a pilot to explore how data could further support resource efficiency and salt usage in winter maintenance operations.
Urban winter maintenance presents unique challenges. Conditions can vary significantly across short distances, and traditional approaches risk either over-treatment or delayed response. The city sought to complement forecasts and existing operational tools with enhanced situational awareness to support daily decisions and follow-up analysis — without adding complexity to established workflows.
The Solution
As part of the pilot initiative, the City of Gothenburg began using Winter Road Insights by NIRA Dynamics as an additional decision-support layer within its broader winter operations framework.
Winter Road Insights provides continuous, vehicle-based information on road surface conditions across the city. The data provides additional, objective insight that strengthens the overall decision-making process.
The platform enabled the Traffic Office to:
- Gain a broader overview of prevailing winter conditions
- Support daily operational decisions during winter events
- Perform post-event follow-up analysis to better understand how conditions evolved across the network
The focus was on decision support, giving operators a clearer, data-driven picture of where attention was needed most.
From Pilot to Long-Term Program
As early adopters of road condition data from connected vehicles, the City of Gothenburg ran a pilot between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 winter seasons. Following the evaluation period during the 2023/24 winter season, the collaboration transitioned into a series project, reflecting confidence in the added value of integrating vehicle-based insights into the city’s decision-support ecosystem.
Based on the results, the City of Gothenburg has entered into a 15-year long-term collaboration, embedding connected vehicle data as part of its overall winter maintenance strategy.
The Results
With Winter Road Insights integrated into its existing workflows, the City of Gothenburg has strengthened its ability to:
- Improve situational awareness during winter operations
- Support informed, day-to-day operational decisions
- Enable structured follow-up analysis after winter events
By incorporating vehicle-based road condition data alongside forecasts, operational expertise, and established processes, the city is better equipped to manage winter maintenance in a complex urban environment — supporting safe mobility while using resources responsibly.
