Public roads in the opening of forests in forest management units of Sarajevo canton
Authors: Sokolovic Dzevada , Bajric Muhamed 
Published: November 2015

The primary network of forest roads consists of public and forest truck
roads. Public roads in one forest area have been mainly built due to needs of
local communities, access to rural areas, the development of tourism,
recreation and so on. Forest truck roads have been built and maintained by
those who manage forests (the forest management), while public roads have
been managed by the Directorate for Roads of the Federation of B&H and
cantonal and local governments. In the last twenty years, the sector for wood
assortments transport in the Federation of B&H is in charge of the private
transport operators which use vehicles of large capacities and high axle
loads for the purpose of transport of as large as possible quantities of
wooden mass per time unit. Due to this fact, the roads have deteriorated
faster. The accelerated deterioration of the roads used for the transport of
wooden assortments imposes the need for the allocation of larger funds for
their maintenance. Due to the increasing damages on the roads the
prohibitions of use of some public roads for wooden assortments transport
occur more frequently. The aim of the research is to determine the total
length of public roads which open Forest Management Units of Sarajevo Canton
(FMU of SC) and to investigate the possibility of using these categories of
roads for forestry. For examination and analysis possibilities of using
public roads for wooden assortments transport qualitative research - polls
methods have been applied within the framework of the key representatives of
the target groups such as forestry and the local community. In the
questionnaire, two sets of questions were specified, the first one which is
designed to determine the possible existence of problems of using public
roads for transport of wooden assortments and possible causes of occurrence
of the problems. The second group of questions gives some of the possible
solutions for solving the problems of using public roads for the purpose of
transport of wood assortments. The results of the survey show that the share
of public roads for opening forest truck roads of Canton Sarajevo amounts
44.94%. The given results illustrate that the cases of prohibition of use of
public roads for wood assortments transport are rare. The largest proportion
of respondents (65%) pleaded that there are no problems (conditions) for
using public roads within their territory. A share of 32% of respondents said
that there are some requirements for the use of public roads for the
transport of wood assortments in their territory and those are mostly demands
that FMU covers the costs of maintenance of these roads. A share of 58% of
respondents gave the answer that those requirements originate from
self-organized groups of citizens. A share of 42% of respondents gave the
answer that these requirements originate from the local community
(municipalities and lower levels). In the second group of questions, where
the proposal for resolving the problems of wood assortments transport in case
of inability of use the existing public roads have been given the majority of
respondents consider that the solution of problem is making agreement on the
mode of usage and application of more control of axle loads of truck which
transport wood assortments by public roads. The general conclusion of the
research is that the undisturbed use of public roads for forestry needs is
possible only with more consideration of the legal guidelines and with
continuous agreements of all stakeholders accompanied by constant control.