Cold winter brings early opening of ice roads

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A number of winter roads on sea or lake ice have been opened earlier than usual. In the past ten years, the road from the northern coastal city of Oulu to the island of Hailuoto has not been opened until February. Now drivers were able to venture out onto the ice this past weekend.
      Last year the Hailuoto ice road was not opened for car traffic until the 20th of March, and it was in use for only a week and a half.
     
During most of the year a ferry operates between Hailuoto and the mainland. The ten-kilometre ice road, the longest in the country, considerably improves access to the island. Some Hailuoto residents have been calling for the construction of a bridge to the island.
      The extended cold weather has raised the thickness of the ice off Oulu to 40 centimetres, which is enough to bear the weight of an ordinary car. Buses and lorries carrying wood continue to use the ferry to and from Hailuoto even in winter.
     
“Now it’s the kind of winter that we used to have. Even on the Tornio River there are privately maintained ice roads in Karunki and Turtola”, says Markku Myllykoski from Tornio, a city further north on the Swedish border.
      “The ice road seemed pleasant, although there were some depressions and small cracks at times”, says Petteri Keränen of Oulu. He and his friends also rode on the ice road for the first time.
     
The strong wind and the temperature of -20 degrees Celsius were not a problem for the drivers. Some were content with driving the ten-kilometre road from Oulunsalo to the Hailuoto ferry terminal and back, while others drove to the visitor centre in Marjaniemi in the southwest of the island.
      Highway officials say that the ice road will remain open as long as the ice is thick enough to bear the weight of cars.
      The thickness is monitored regularly, and speed limits are enforced as a precaution against cracks in the ice. Overtaking is not allowed on the road, and cars are expected to keep a distance of at least 50 metres from each other. If necessary, the routing of the road is altered.


Links:
  Ice road across Lake Pielinen opens - several weeks late (8.2.2008)

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