my time in london has been powered by google maps and also a few quick maps like the above, scribbled on post-it notes or a4 paper and there just in case.

the e18 motorway project running across southern finland from turku to hamina is expected to be complete by 2015. minister of transport anu vehviläinen says that after its inauguration, no further motorways will be needed in finland.

source: yle.fi news

kehärata: the new circle train line that will serve the airport. i saw ads for it earlier at pasila train station.

above is a picture of the proposed route for the raidejokeri light rail project – it will go from itäkeskus in the east to tapiola in the west. funny to see pictures of dublin in the raidejokeri website.

only on page 35 so far, but here are some interesting extracts:

“… successive governments had failed to implement the 1974 keane report on building land, which recommended that all land designated for urban developement should be compulsorily aquired by the local authorities at its existing use value, plus a premium of 25 per cent. as a direct result of this failure, huge profits went into the pockets of everyone who owned land or speculatively aquired it, and the inflated cost was passed onto the homebuyers”

“green party td (teachta dála, member of lower house of the irish parliament) ciarán cuffe estimates that at least 100 of the 800-plus councillors countrywide work as estate agents or auctioneers”

the extension to the tram network here in helsinki is complete and the new route for the 3b + 3t trams start in operation in a few weeks (from march 30th). here is some info on it all (in finnish) on the hkl site.

because the links on hel.fi annoyinlgy change randomly ive mirrored the map here in jpg format

view in google earth: helsinki 1701 (kmz opens a 1,3mb .png file in google earth)

central helsinki in 1701 was a lot different to what it is now, kluuvilahti (gloviken, kluuvi bay) stretched down from töölönlahti towards aleksanterinkatu. the map above is 308years old and doesnt really match up perfectly with the satellite image in google earth – but its enough to show the differences.

the old shoreline of kluuvilahti is remembered in the streetart piece kluuvinlahden fossiilit by tuula närhinen.

more info about the history of kluuvilahti here (in finnish):
kluuvi kuivatus
hel ksv: viikonnimi – kluuvi

thanks to mari for this random image. (its taken from “helsingin neljävuosisataa” by eino e. suolahti)

i finally got to go through dublin port tunnel when i was home just before christmas. i got the front seat upstairs in the bus to heuston station and i was all set for a great show. from an engineering perspective the tunnel is fantastic – but from a design point of view its horrendous. the tunnel ends up looking like a service tunnel. (just because its mostly for truckers doesn’t mean it should be ugly)

although its nice to see dublin planners finally thinking in 3d – its just a shame they didnt think beyond 3d and just moved the port out of the city like they’ve done here in helsinki. (hmm i thought i had posted about the helsinki port project on here but i dont think i have, will have to rectify that.)

now its been decided: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/1135241058721

laituri.hel.fi