According to a city official, the large amount of snow that fell at one time and the fluctuations in temperature have made winter maintenance exceptional compared to previous years.
In winter problems in Helsinki continue.
Icy roads resemble an ice rink in many places, and high snowdrifts on sidewalks, parking lots, and near shelters make life difficult for city dwellers.
Helsingin Sanomat has received several concerns about the city’s winter maintenance.
In Maunula the kindergarten gate froze on wednesday, and staff had to take shovel work themselves when no help was received from the maintenance company.
“The maintenance man ran out of work at 3pm, and the worst search rush was about to begin. When we forcibly opened the gate, we couldn’t catch it anymore, ”says the director of Korenno Kindergarten. Tiina Marjoniemi.
One employee had to act as a gatekeeper to prevent children from slipping on the run.
Some Helsinki’s kindergarten groups have completely left out because of the frozen yards.
The slipperyness of the yard has also been a challenge for the kindergarten in Korenno.
“We have procured anti-slip shoes for all employees. We have also sanded the yard ourselves, ”says Marjoniemi.
In his view, the problems stem from the fact that property maintenance workers have too many areas to manage. The city of Helsinki has about 750 kindergartens, schools and educational institutions, the yards of which are mainly taken care of by Palmia and Talosyke.
“Obviously, operators are short of staff and are unable to meet the obligations they have promised.”
There was no desire to comment on the heartbeat to HS. Palmia Business Director Esko Sutelainen says there are not enough resources, even though they have been added and overtime is being thrown.
“This winter we have a situation where there is a lot of snow and water behind us. Switching between the pros and cons makes every day challenging. ”
According to Sutelainen, the scope of maintenance also varies from site to site, which causes ambiguities.
“Every winter, we run into a situation that there are areas that are not covered by the order. The customer finally decides which things to do at each site. ”
Pedestrians had to climb over a snowdrift plowed on the sidewalk in Töölö, Helsinki, last Monday.
Helsinki infrastructure manager for public areas Hannu Seppälä says the problems with winter maintenance are known to the city.
“Snowfalls and storms have caused challenges and problems everywhere. Supervisors of public areas and service providers go around the areas and react to detected problems. Anti-slip is a challenge both on the premises and in public areas. ”
It is not a question of savings.
“However, we have certain budgets with which we order the service. That’s the way money dictates. ”
In public areas alone, the city spends € 25 million a year on winter care under normal conditions. According to Seppälä, the costs will be exceeded this year, but it is not yet possible to say how much. Last year, the additional costs of winter care came to about 10 million euros.
Seppälä says that the agreements and quality requirements between the public areas and the property management service providers clearly state that the weather conditions must be addressed and, among other things, anti-slip measures taken care of.
The truck was surrounded by plowed snow in Viikki, Helsinki, in early February.
In urban space however, winter maintenance is now complicated by many things.
There are not enough snow receiving places and temporary storage places on the streets. It takes time to transport the snow because some of the reception locations are far away. Off-road parking makes plowing difficult, as do temperature fluctuations, which in turn melt and freeze snow, Seppälä says.
“There are a lot of places that need to be maintained as handcrafted. From our point of view, this is not normal. ”
Helsinki has defined certain treatment categories for all its streets and roads. The city prioritizes main streets in winter maintenance, which has led to awkward situations, especially in residential areas.
Helsinki the regional cyclists’ association (Hepo) took a stand earlier this week. According to Hepo, pedestrian and bicycle lanes are also not managed in accordance with the agreed categories of care, unlike carriageways as a rule.
According to observations made by the association’s Actives, both walking and cycling have been dangerous in some places this winter due to lack of maintenance.
“The situation after the snowstorm is problematic. It is now clearly visible. Not everyone has been treated, ”Seppälä replies.
“If more than 5,000 snow loads a day are taken to the snow pick-ups, it’s quite exceptional.”
The cars were buried under the snow in Pihlajamäki, Helsinki, on Monday.
In Helsinki if necessary, it is possible to introduce special measures for winter maintenance. According to Seppälä, this has already been done by increasing equipment and resources.
“When we normally have about 300 units of equipment on the move, now the number is already 350.”
Is there anything else Helsinki could do? Should Helsinki, for example, introduce new methods for snow removal?
“We have different pilots for alternative snow removal. For example, we have tried snowmelters and snow containers. They work but also require space and are quite expensive. ”
Over the weekend, the weather is expected to cool down a bit.
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