The main aim of road maintenance is to keep roads usable every day and ensure that traffic can flow safely. ELY Centres are responsible for maintaining a total of 78,000 km of roads plus adjoining structures, bus stops and road lighting. Road maintenance has been outsourced to companies operating on the open markets.
In winter, the main road maintenance tasks are snowploughing, gritting and keeping road surfaces even.
Summer maintenance includes pavement maintenance, repairs of gravel roads and bridges and care of the traffic environment.
The aim of road improvements and road construction is to facilitate mobility, keep the transport network up to date, improve traffic safety and make the traffic environment more pleasant. In addition to traffic arteries, road construction projects also involve the building of bridges, tunnels, junctions, traffic guidance systems and road lighting. Environment is an important consideration in all aspects of road maintenance. Measures to reduce noise levels and protect groundwater are in the form of thematic projects or are carried out as part of large projects.
ELY Centres order road planning and construction projects from specialist companies.
The transport system comprises traffic arteries intended for different modes of transport, the adjoining structures, and passenger and freight traffic. ELY Centres are actively involved in the development of traffic systems in their regions, co-operating with regional councils, municipalities and the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.
Preparation of transport system plans is an important part of transport system management. In co-operation with other partners, ELY Centres examine how the transport system should be developed and how the challenges facing the system can be solved. Transport system management involves the examination of the present state of the transport system, determination of the future transport networks and decisions on how they should be developed on the basis of national and regional targets.
Together with other players, ELY Centres are responsible for the availability of public transport services and for helping to create a basis for a smoothly functioning public transport system. ELY Centres are responsible for the procurement, licence administration, planning and funding tasks concerning road-based public transport.
The transport services coming under ELY Centres are based on the operating agreements concluded in accordance with the Public Transport Act, which are supplemented by services purchased on the basis of purchasing and licence agreements. In addition to agreement-based services, ELY Centres may also grant route licences and demand-responsive transport service licences to transport providers operating on market terms. ELY Centres also promote the use of public transport by funding city tickets, regional tickets and commuting tickets and by granting government assistance to municipalities for local services, deviated fixed route services and public transport development projects.
ELY Centres also provide the physical basis for smoothly functioning public transport services. This includes bus stops and bus stop shelters outside built areas plus the necessary fittings, feeder areas, public transport lanes and traffic light priority systems and their maintenance. The needs of public transport are a consideration in all transport planning.
Under section 14(1) of the Public Transport Act, ELY Centres have an obligation to define the public transport service level in areas coming under them.
Service levels are defined in co-operation with municipalities and regional councils. The service level requirement is in effect for a specific period.
The definition of the public transport service level serves as a basis for decisions concerning the manner in which public transport services are organised. The service levels are also taken into account when permit applications for scheduled services are considered.
All matters concerning road and commuter ferries in Finland are the responsibility of the Southwest Finland ELY Centre. It is responsible for 41 ferries, most of which operate in the Turku archipelago and the lake regions of Eastern Finland, and for services on 12 commuter ferry routes. The Southwest Finland ELY Centre also supports private ferry services and commuter ferry services in the Sipoo and Raasepori archipelago and in the Turku archipelago ring road.
Commuter ferry traffic in the archipelago:
ELY Centres promote traffic safety by means of road maintenance and in co-operation with such bodies as Liikenneturva, the police and municipalities. Responsibility for traffic safety lies with those responsible for the development of the traffic system and road users.
The risk of traffic accidents is lowered and the consequences of accidents are mitigated by improving the traffic environment and by maintaining a system of speed limits. ELY Centres improve the traffic environment by such measures as the construction of median barriers and bicycle and pedestrian paths. The traffic safety vision is that nobody should die or be seriously injured in traffic. Improving traffic safety is one of the main aims of the ELY Centres.
ELY Centres steer actors operating in the road areas and their vicinity by means of permit decisions and agreements and by issuing opinions. Road users may also claim damages for traffic accidents resulting from inadequate road maintenance.
ELY Centres grant permits and licences for a broad range of purposes, including the connecting of private roads to highways, work carried in the road area, roadside advertising, signposts and temporary road closures.
The aim of traffic management is to improve traffic safety, ensure smooth traffic, reduce traffic emissions and ensure that the road network is used more efficiently. Traffic management helps to influence the selection of the mode of transport and route and the timing of the journey or the transport.
A requirement for successful transport management is a reliable up-to-date picture of the transport system, which is produced by means of information and communications technology (transport telematics).
Traffic information keeps road users up to date on such issues as road conditions, traffic volumes and traffic disruptions, both before and during the journey. Traffic is steered by means of permanent and variable traffic signs, signposts and traffic lights. Management of traffic disruptions involves the detection of and dealing with situations involving disruptions as a joint effort involving different authorities.
Traffic Customer Service is a nationwide unit providing advice in transport matters and serving as a feedback contact point. On the website, you can find information, give feedback and ask questions on state-owned traffic routes.
ELY Centres promote the smooth functioning of the labour market by ensuring that the necessary employment services are in place and available to all those who need them. ELY Centres are responsible for developing and coordinating employment services and they help to promote employment opportunities and prevent discrimination and social exclusion. In accordance with their service pledge, ELY Centres make coordinated efforts to ensure that all statutory services are available to all customers.
ELY Centres are responsible for regional tasks in the field of immigration, integration and good ethnic relations.
They include:
Together with other players, Employment and Economic Development Offices are responsible for providing measures and services promoting and supporting the integration of immigrants who have registered as jobseekers.
Read more about immigration issues:
ELY Centres monitor the state of the environment and the changes in it. The state of the environment is monitored using biological, physical, chemical and other variables and by analysing interaction between them.
The ELY Centres use the information on environmental loading collected by means of environmental monitoring and research as a basis for their decisions, opinions and plans. ELY Centres also collect and publish information about the state of the environment in the areas coming under them for other parties such as regional councils and ordinary citizens.
ELY Centres also monitor the algae situation in the regions. Municipal environmental officials and other algae observers submit their algae findings collected at observation points to the ELY Centres, which forward the information to the Finnish Environment Institute. The Finnish Environment Institute compiles the information and prepares a nationwide algae bulletin and an algae map every Wednesday during the summer monitoring period.
ELY Centres help to secure biodiversity by establishing nature conservation areas on private land and by purchasing areas for the state for the purposes of conservation. They help to ensure strong populations of indigenous and established species and preserve their areas of distribution. ELY Centres conduct inventories of natural habitats laid down in the Nature Conservation Act in the regions coming under them and decide on their boundaries.
ELY Centres promote and supervise nature conservation and landscape protection. They are closely involved in projects aimed at restoring and managing important traditional landscapes. ELY Centres also work to safeguard the protection of natural values in land use planning.
ELY Centres promote the protection of air, water and soil and manage the environmental protection tasks laid down for them. In order to increase environmental awareness, ELY Centres coordinate regional co-operation in the field of environmental education. In addition to the general promotion of environmental protection, ELY Centres also have permit and supervisory duties under the Environmental Protection Act, Water Act and the Waste Act. Consideration of notifications of contaminated soil is a responsibility of the ELY Centres.
ELY Centres supervise adherence to the environmental and water permits granted by regional state administrative agencies and ensure that public interest is taken into account in environmental and water issues. Environmental permits are granted by regional state administrative agencies and municipal environmental protection authorities. The operations requiring environmental permits are supervised throughout the entire life-cycle of the operations. ELY Centres and municipal environmental protection authorities act as the supervisory authorities.
ELY Centres act as contact authorities in impact assessments carried out in accordance with the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures and issue opinions in environmental impact assessments of plans and programmes. In an environmental impact assessment, the negative and positive impacts of a project, plan or programme on humans, nature, built environment and natural resources are identified and assessed.
In their capacity as oil spill response authorities, ELY Centres work to prevent and combat environmental pollution and damage. Environmental damage arises if dangerous or explosive substances are released or may be released to the soil, water, sewage systems or the atmosphere. Such damage includes oil spills, factory fires, chemical accidents and accidents involving tanker trucks or trains carrying dangerous substances.
ELY Centres assess the environmental damage caused by the accident in collaboration with the rescue authorities, assist the authorities and any operator involved, provide information about the situation, make decisions on follow-up measures, organise the monitoring of the situation and the environment from an environmental protection perspective and issue orders so that emergencies can be avoided.
ELY Centres promote and steer land use planning and the organisation of construction activities in municipalities. They take part in the preparation of regional land use plans, steer and supervise local master planning and local detailed planning and decide on such matter as special permits for shore construction.
ELY Centres promote the maintenance of cultural environments and the preservation of the cultural heritage by steering land use planning in municipalities, by granting assistance for the management of built heritage and by making decisions on the protection of buildings in accordance with the Act on the Protection of Buildings.
ELY Centres promote the good condition and usability of waterways by providing expert assistance in the restoration of water areas and by participating in project planning and implementation in co-operation with municipalities, other authorities and the parties carrying out the restoration. They also promote flood protection and prevention by encouraging construction outside flood risk areas. ELY Centres also take part in prevention measures carried out during floods.
ELY Centres supervise and steer regulation of inland waterways so that water levels and flows are in accordance with the objectives set out for the use of waterways and the state of the environment. They are also responsible for dam safety.
Municipalities are responsible for the general development and organisation of the water supply. ELY Centres are responsible for the supervision of water supply, guidance of planning and targeting of financial support in their own areas.
