In Finland, several road sections, totalling approximately 350 km, have been equipped with variable speed limits. The results concerning driver behaviour and traffic safety impacts have been promising. The aim of the study was to estimate the costs and the benefits of a weather-controlled variable speed limit system that would cover most of the Finnish main roads. The building costs and annual maintenance costs of a quality, up-to-date system were evaluated. The benefit-cost ratio calculated with the most likelystarting values was 1.1-1.9. The conclusion is that it is probably not advisable to build variable speed limit systems very extensively but more ofthem should be gradually built on highly trafficked road segments. For the covering abstract see E134653.
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