Vuosaari harbour transport needs could cause major traffic jams on Ring Road

Number of lorries growing from 2,500 vehicles a day to 6,000

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The completion of the Vuosaari harbour in the east of Helsinki in 2009 could bring nearly 4,000 new trucks and articulated lorries to the Kehä III Ring Road. Transport experts and entrepreneurs predict unsustainable congestion, because the capacity of Kehä III is already at its maximum, with regular bottlenecks in some locations.
     At a seminar on Tuesday, Director Antti Seppälä, speaking on behalf of foreign contract and transport entrepreneurs, predicted that the same kinds of lorry queues that have stretched into Finland from the Russian border could appear on Kehä III.
     "The congestion of Helsinki will move over to Vantaa, to Kehä III, whose present capacity is not sufficient", Seppälä said.
     The state has so far not granted money for additional construction on Kehä III in the most critical section - the stretch between the Hämeenlinna motorway and the access road to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
     
The City of Vantaa had been willing to finance a stopgap solution involving repairs that were supposed to eliminate crossings on Kehä III that are now controlled by traffic lights, and add extra lanes and parallel roads in a few places.
     That plan, with an estimated cost of EUR 45 million, is no longer seen as sufficient. "The state needs to rapidly make a decision on financing to start the suspended basic improvement of the road", notes Vantaa Deputy Mayor Jukka Peltomäki.
     A more thorough reconstruction would cost EUR 180 million.
     Vantaa is appealing to the government to put a high priority on upgrading Kehä III as a key part of the E18 highway.
     
No new state money was promised by Juhan Tervala, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. However, he felt that improving Kehä III will be on a list of projects to be made public in February.
     The state is currently considering new investment decisions that could be used for the financing of transport projects such as the E18.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Construction of quays proceeds in Vuosaari Harbour (28.5.2007)
  Kehä III bypass road is Finland´s largest shopping street (29.12.2000)

Links:
  Vuosaari Harbour Project

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