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Road 51

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Kantatie 51Road 51 connects capital of Finland – Helsinki and a small town of Karjaa. Surprisingly enough there are at least two internet pages dedicated to road 51. Wikipedia article, and Matti Grönroos’ page. Why to even mention this road in this blog? Well, it is the shortest way to central Helsinki from Espoo, where we live now, and from Inkoo where we’ll move to next year. There are also two Nokia offices on this road – Ruoholahti and the headquarters – Nokia House.

The part of the road close to Helsinki is named Länsiväylä (Western Highway) and is one of the busiest roads in Finland. It is famous for its morning and evening traffic jams. Next year an expansion project starts that will convert the part of the road from Kivenlahti to Kirkkonummi to a 4-lane road. So driving from Inkoo to Helsinki will take even less time in 2010, when the project is complete.

01 Sep 07 update: the news just came – government dropped this project funding from 2008 budget, so it is postponed

Construction permit – rakennuslupa

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

Excellent news reached me when I was away on a business trip in San Francisco. Construction comission of Inkoo (Inkoon rakennuslautakunta) granted construction permit (rakennuslupa) and appointed a deposit of 8.000eur so that construction work can be started already during 30 days appeal time.

According to local regulations there’s a right to appeal all decisions of construction comission. They publish the latest decisions on the web-site. And like in “Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy” Vogon captain has said: “all the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department on Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth Years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge a formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now!” The cries of protest continue from the screaming multitudes on Earth, “What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri! Oh for heavens sake mankind, it’s only four light years away you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that’s your own lookout!”.