Paasikiven–Kekkosentie ("Paasikivi–Kekkonen Road"), or Rantaväylä, is a busy car

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffi ...

route located in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, which serves as a regional

transit road New York State Route 78 (NY 78) is a state highway in western New York in the United States. While it is signed north–south, the southern portion runs in an east–west direction across Wyoming and Erie counties, from its beginning ...

and a significant access route to the

city center A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

. It is a four-lane highway owned by the Finnish state and part of Highway 12. ''Paasikiven–Kekkosentie'' is located between the

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

's motorway and the Teiskontie street junction. The originally ''Paasikiven–Kekkosentie'' was seven kilometers long and was built in several phases. The first part was completed on the southern shore of

Lake Näsijärvi A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

and north of Tampere's city center in the mid-1970s. The last part at the Petsamo district was opened to traffic in 1989.''Valtatie 12 (Tampereen Rantaväylä) välillä Santalahti–Naistenlahti: Yleissuunnitelma'', p. 13. (in Finnish) At the planning stage, the highway was called ''Kehätie'' ("Ring Road"), but later the western part was named ''Paasikiventie'' and the eastern part ''Kekkosentie'' in the

town plan Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

. ''Paasikiventie'' changed to ''Kekkosentie'' on the shore of

Tammerkoski Tammerkoski is a channel of rapids in Tampere, Finland. The city of Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. The difference in altitude between these two is and the water flows from Näsijärvi to Pyhäjärvi through ...

at the eastern end of the Näsinsilta bridge. The name ''Paasikiventie'' refers to President J. K. Paasikivi, who lived in Tampere as an early child. When the street name was entered in the town plan in the early 1970s, one hundred years had passed since Paasikivi was born. The name ''Kekkosentie'', which was included in the town plan in 1977, is intended to honor President

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister ...

, who had connections to Tampere through businessman Kalle Kaihari. At the time of the completion of Paasikiven–Kekkosentie, the so-called

Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine The Paasikivi-Kekkonen doctrine was a foreign policy doctrine established by Finnish President Juho Kusti Paasikivi and continued by his successor Urho Kekkonen, aimed at Finland's survival as an independent sovereign, democratic, and capital ...

prevailed in Finnish foreign policy. ''Paasikiventie'' and ''Kekkosentie'' were originally streets managed and operated by the city, but in the mid-1990s they were converted into state-maintained public roads. The road section between Mustanlahti and

Naistenlahti Tampella (until 2002 known as Naistenlahti) is a neighbourhood in the northern part of the city center of Tampere, Finland. It consists of the old Tampella factory area, the Armonkallio residential area and the Naistenlahti harbor area. The neigh ...

was widened in 1997. Completed in 2016, the Tampere Tunnel, which is a couple of kilometers long, changed the alignment of the fairway so that ''Paasikiventie'' is now located on the west side of the tunnel (west of

Santalahti Santalahti is a district in the western part of Tampere, Finland. It borders Lake Näsijärvi in the north, the Särkänniemi district in the east, Ylä-Pispala and Ala-Pispala in the south and Lielahti in the west. The town plan of Santalahti w ...

) and ''Kekkosentie'' on the east side of the tunnel (east of Naistenlahti). The tunnel section is not ''Paasikiventie'' or ''Kekkosentie'', but the name of the underground road is ''Rantatunneli''. With the tunnel, the above-ground road section between Santalahti and Naistenlahti became obsolete from Highway 12, and was renamed ''Paasikivenkatu–Kekkosenkatu''. The word ''katu'' (translated "street") tells that the responsibility for maintaining the road lies with the city of Tampere.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paasikiven-Kekkosentie Streets in Tampere Roads in Finland Keskusta (Tampere) Sampo Urho Kekkonen

See also

References