Final Muurla-Lohja section of E18 motorway between Helsinki and Turku to open in autumn

Flying squirrels account for EUR 7 million addition to construction costs

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In 163 days’ time, motorists will be able to cover the entire distance from Helsinki to Turku by motorway. Finland’s largest road construction undertaking, the Muurla-Lohja section of the E18 motorway (Highway 1), is scheduled for opening on November 15th.
     
The new 51-kilometre stretch is somewhat special from the Finnish standpoint, for it has no fewer than seven tunnels, 75 bridges, and 16 kilometres of junction ramps. Finland’s largest highway project comes with an equally impressive price-tag of EUR 335 million.
      The section will also include the longest road tunnel in the country. The length of Lohja’s Karnainen tunnel is roughly 2.2 kilometres.
      Furthermore, there are no less than 47 separate flying squirrel habitats along the way, the bypassing of which has added EUR seven million to the cost of the project.
     
At the moment, 85 per cent of the undertaking has been completed. The road is now being finished off, but it cannot be used just yet.
      Finishing touches are also being put to the tunnels, and 73 of the 75 bridges have been cast. Fifty per cent of the asphalt surfacing work has also been completed. Currently there are 580 people working on the project, compared with the peak of 900 workers some time ago.
      A third of the total cost of the project arises from constructing the tunnels. In all, tunnels and bridges account for roughly half of the total price of the stretch of road.
     
Thanks to the new motorway, the journey between Muurla and Lohja will be two kilometres shorter. In terms of driving time, the distance will be covered 12-15 minutes quicker.
      The numerous tunnels will prevent the driving time to be shortened any further than that. In the tunnels the speed limit is 100 km/h, elsewhere 120 km/h in the summer.
      The greatest savings will come not in minutes, but in the form of saved lives and averted serious accidents.
      “In the next ten years the new stretch will spare us from 50 fatal accidents and 250 accidents resulting in injury”, believes project manager Matti Vehviläinen from the Finnish Road Administration.
     
According to Vehviläinen, the tunnel and bridge options were chosen because of the difficult and steep terrain conditions.
      Compared with rock cutting, tunnels save the surrounding nature. Animals can cross the motorway by walking under the bridges or over the tunnels.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland´s largest motorway project attracts international interest (17.8.2004)
  Flying squirrel population becoming increasingly dispersed (3.3.2006)

Links:
  Road Traffic Technology: E18 Expressway
  E18 Muurla-Lohja Motorway

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