Helsinki struggles with towering drifts of snow

City plans to start dumping snow into the sea under the Hakaniemi Bridge

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Helsinki residents are decidedly unhappy about increasing masses of snow that are accumulating on streets and pavements, disrupting traffic for motorists and pedestrians alike.
      ”The capital’s entire fleet of snow ploughs is currently in operation”, says Pekka Sauri, the Deputy Mayor for Public Works and Environmental Affairs.
      However, Sauri admitted on Monday that there has not been enough time to clean all small streets before a new blizzard starts, as the roads and streets are cleared in order of importance.
     
The Helsinki Rescue Department snapped at the weekend that the masses of snow are hampering and slowing down rescue operations, unless the properties see to it that all snow is cleared from rescue routes.
      Following the criticism expressed by the Rescue Department, the Public Works Department checked the situation in the side streets in downtown Helsinki.
      ”We are securing that rescue vehicles have free access to all places”, said Raimo K. Saarinen, the head of the Street and Park Division of the city’s hardpressed Public Works Department.
     
In downtown Helsinki, the city is responsible for the roadways, including streets and light traffic routes. The city also ploughs all parking places along the streets if possible.
      However, motorists are to clean the snow off their own vehicles.
      The property owners are responsible for cleaning and sanding the pavements. It is also the property owner’s duty to take care of the snow piled up on pavements after the roads have been ploughed. They are also supposed to remove all piles hampering pedestrians at junctions. The removal of snow piles is also one of the duties of the property owner.
     
In the suburbs, the city is responsible for cleaning the pavements and even for removing the snow piles. However, the city charges the property owners for the work.
      The users of the cars parked along streets are to clean the snow off their vehicles.
      The suburban property owners have to clean their driveways after the streets have been ploughed.
     
In Helsinki, there have been some discussions on the responsibility for cleaning the pavements.
      It has been suggested that such work should be the responsibility of the city, even in the downtown areas.
      The Finnish Real Estate Federation has opposed such a transfer of duties.
      ”The properties are obliged to take care of their duties and to keep the rescue routes open”, says Harri Hiltunen, the Managing Director of the Finnish Real Estate Federation.
      He admits nevertherless that on a pavement edge it is sometimes difficult to know ”whose snow it is”.
     
The City of Helsinki is also suffering from a shortage of appropriate snow disposal areas, as the number of such places has constantly been reduced.
      Deputy Mayor Sauri reports that after many year’s break, the city intends to start dumping the snow into the sea under the Hakaniemi Bridge ”very soon”, as thanks to short distances, it is the best possible place for this purpose in downtown Helsinki.
      However, dumping the snow into the sea also means that in the frosty weather the water has to be stirred continuously in order to keep it free from ice.
     
Why can the snow not be stored in parks or the city’s undeveloped areas?
      The head of the Street and Park Division says that in general the city’s parks are not suitable places for the piles of snow, as the large masses of snow melt away slowly in the spring and the city’s lawns could be easily ruined.
      However, some snow can be stored temporarily in paved market squares or other open spaces to wait for transportation. This has already been done in Helsinki’s Kasarmintori square.
     
Today - Tuesday - driving conditions continue to be poor, even though the heaviest overnight blizzard has already moved towards the north.
      The centre of the low pressure area is nevertheless remaining on the southern coast, and there is a possibility of showers of snow in the afternoon, says duty meteorologist Juha Tuomala from the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
      Tuomala notes further that new precipitation is likely on Wednesday, adding that predominantly snowy weather is expected for the entire week. This is hardly anything new to locals - Helsinki is currently experiencing levels of snow not seen since the 1960s, and it seems as if all of one day's shovelling work is systematically wiped out during the following night.
      In Espoo, people have claimed snow depth of up to 70 cm, or the sort of quantities normally only associated with the far north and east of Finland. Conversely, the "snowiest" parts of the country have nothing much to brag about at present - Kajaani in Kainuu Province had only 30cm, and Kilpisjärvi in the arm stretching up to the far north-western corner of Lapland could only claim 28cm.
     
Today commuters have also been plagued by reductions in services, and the Finnish Railways VR has cancelled a number of trains while some trains are running at fewer frequencies until further notice.
      For revised timetables, please see www.vr.fi/eng/.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police urge motorists to avoid narrow streets with accumulated snow in Helsinki (1.2.2010)

Links:
  The Finnish Real Estate Federation
  Finnish Meteorological Institute - five-day forecast for Helsinki (more snow on Thursday!)

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