Planning The Europe
Highway E18 project Muurla-Lohjanharju
Highway 1 connects the Helsinki and Turku metropolitan areas, and is a vital part of the
southwest Finland transport network. It has a significant impact on the
development of cities and urban areas along its route.
The
Europe Highway E18 is part of the Nordic Triangle, a project prioritised by
the EU, which, in Finland, passes from Turku and Naantali via the Greater
Helsinki Area to Vaalimaa at the Russian border. It links together the urban
centres of Finland's southern coastline. Finland�s objective is to implement
the conversion of the entire Europe Highway E18 to comply with motorway
standards by 2015. Today, the
completed portions of the project between Turku and Helsinki are Helsinki �
Lohjanharju (38 km) and Muurla � Turku (63 km). The construction of the Lohjanharju
� Lohja portion (10 km) is underway, and the road will be opened for
traffic in the autumn of 2005. The Muurla �
Lohja project complements the missing part of the Turku - Helsinki motorway.
The road section Muurla-Lohjanharju is full of bends, hills and
intersections, which increases the accident rate and limits opportunities for
overtaking. An unusually large portion of the increasing traffic is made up of
trucks and lorries, which lengthen queues. As the amount of traffic increases,
so do the problems, such as accidents, congestion and the unpredictability of
travel times. Accidents or bad weather conditions may slow traffic and cause
delays, causing problems especially for industry, trade and public transport.
Highway 25 by Lohja is also congested and unsafe. It is Lohja�s radial
road, serving both local and through traffic.
The legal validity of the road plans
The road plan for section Lohja
- Lievi� (Lohjanharju) was
completed in the fall of 1998 and was approved in July 2000. In June 2003, the
Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeals filed against the road plan.
The road plans for section Muurla-Lohja were drawn up in three sections
and completed in October 2001. The Ministry of Transport and Communications
approved the plans in November 2002. Appeals were filed with the Supreme
Administrative Court, which ruled on the matter on December 31, 2003. The
appeals were mostly dismissed, and the road plans entered into legal force.
Construction
Construction began on the section Lohja-Lohjanharju in
January 2004. The motorway will be opened for traffic in December 2005. The
whole construction project will be complete by October 31, 2006.
As for the section Muurla-Lohja, the
goal is to begin construction in 2005 and have the road open for traffic by 2009.
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