Transport and mobility

Smooth travel between the home, workplace, school and services makes everyday life easier.

A functional transport system benefits everyone. In addition to people, goods, maintenance vehicles and machinery, and rescue vehicles need to be able to move about the city smoothly.

The Traffic Planning Unit of Espoo’s City Planning Department ensures that the needs of different users are taken into account and the harmful effects of traffic are minimised.

Traffic planning is a part of city planning

Espoo’s population is growing. To stop traffic and the space needed by it growing in proportion to the population, new housing will be planned in particular for areas with good traffic connections. The city-like centres can have pleasant pedestrian environments where everything needed in everyday life is easily accessible.

Objectives: reducing negative effects and ensuring smooth traffic

The goal of Espoo’s traffic planning is, in particular, to support modes of transport that have fewer negative effects than vehicle traffic. Cars require more room on streets, roads and parking spaces than pedestrians, bicycles and public transport. Car traffic causes more noise, emissions and traffic accidents. Where vehicle routes are still needed, we can minimise negative effects through placement, noise barriers and other planning solutions.

Promoting other modes of transport also makes car traffic easier. The more people travel by foot, bicycle or public transport in their everyday movements around the city, the smoother car traffic will be.

Planning on various scales

The transport system is developed and traffic is planned at various levels. The details of the plans become more precise and the timespan of the implementation becomes shorter the more detailed the plan level is.

Espoo and other municipalities in the Metropolitan Area have signed an agreement on trends in land use, housing and transport (MAL agreement) with the Finnish Government. Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) is managing the planning work on the transport system of the Metropolitan Area. Municipalities also work with the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, which prepares the regional plan.

Traffic planning on various plan levels

In master planning for transport, traffic volumes and the effects of traffic far into the future are assessed. The master plan directs the basic transport solutions, such as the key roads and streets, public transport connections and cycling routes.

In the preparation of the detailed plan, traffic planning becomes more detailed at the level of access streets, public transport stops, parking spaces and pedestrian and cycling routes. In detailed planning, it is ensured that all transport solutions have sufficient space in public areas. In addition to this, the detailed plan also regulates the arrangement of plots’ internal transport solutions, such as parking.

From a plan into a street

In Espoo, the Traffic Planning Unit of the City Planning Department is in charge of the traffic planning included in master and detailed plans, while the Public Works Department prepares more detailed street and construction plans. The Public Works Department is also responsible for the construction and maintenance of streets, as well as traffic control, such as traffic lights and signs.

The planning of public transport is the responsibility of Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL).

The whole Espoo