Slow clearance after heavy snowfalls over the holidays leads to blocked streets in Helsinki

Economic cuts slow down clearing of residential streets - and more snow is on the way

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The snowdrifts that accumulated on the streets of towns and cities in Finland over the holidays, bringing in their wake all sorts of traffic-related problems, have caused people to start taking notice of how the authorities are attending to the situation.
      For example in the cities of Turku and Jyväskylä overtime work was needed in order for the streets to be cleared of snow by Monday morning.
      “It was intense”, says City of Jyväskylä head of municipal engineering Jari Rönkä.
      Men and ploughing equipment worked without a break for several days. There were some difficulties, too, for not quite the entire fleet of vehicles was in working order.
      In Turku, snowy winters are nowadays a rarity, but this time the entire fleet of around 90 vehicles has been in use, explains head of municipal engineering Juhani Hyytiäinen.
      Only the removal of snow that was the responsibility of certain property owners was still under way on Monday afternoon.
     
In Helsinki Paavo Hilapuu, 73, from the district of Haaga, expressed astonishment that the temporary signs that urge people to remove their cars to make way for the snow ploughs remained tightly covered up.
      So, are the snow ploughs coming or not?
      “In Haaga the signs will be uncovered on Tuesday, some of them perhaps even today”, promised foreman in charge Tero Leikas from the City of Helsinki, when interviewed on Monday.
      After the heavy snowfalls the city has aimed to use lighter ploughing equipment to keep the traffic flowing even on residential streets.
     
A more thorough clearing of the Helsinki streets from snow will take rather longer than in previous years.
      The resources have been cut down to the tune of a couple of million euros, explains head of department Pekka Isoniemi from the Public Works Department.
      “The City Council has set a binding target that the most important streets and light traffic lanes serving commuter traffic are ploughed and gritted before 7 a.m.”, Isoniemi lists.
      In residential areas the aim is to facilitate bus traffic in order for people to get to work.
     
In certain districts of Helsinki, such as Haaga, the clearing of the streets has been slow mainly because of the exceptionally large quantities of snow that the area has received in the past couple of weeks.
      Elsewhere in Finland, for example in the eastern city of Joensuu, colder temperatures have ensured that the snow has been much lighter and easier to remove than the heavy wet snow of the coastal regions. Homeowners who have had to dig their way to the mailbox will testify to the fact that this is not merely another lame excuse: powdery snow at -10°C is a great deal easier to move than the wet variety around freezing point.
      On the other hand, when was the last time in Helsinki that it was so warm? Lately the temperature has been consistently well below freezing.
     
While the removal of snow will continue for another week or so in Helsinki, Joensuu’s sidewalks and bicycle lanes were already cleared by 7 a.m. Monday morning and the streets by the afternoon.
     
Things are unlikely to get much better down south very soon, for the Finnish Meteorological Institute are promising more of the white stuff will fall in the capital region and along the south coast over the next few days.
      Around five centimetres of snow are forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, with low temperatures expected to continue through the middle of the week, and with a further tightening of the chilly conditions as the weekend approaches.
      Places in the south of the country can look forward to weekend temperatures down to -20°C once more, and further north minus 30 could be on the cards.
      The snow is not going anywhere fast.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Winter is coldest since 2003 (4.1.2010)
  Heavy snowfall continues (22.12.2009)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute: Five-day forecast for Helsinki

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