Kämärintie likely to become a gravel road
Tuesday 6th October 2026 on 07:00 in
Finland
The badly worn Kämärintie road in Kannonkoski, Central Finland, is likely to be converted to gravel because there is no funding for repairs, Yle reports. Residents want it repaved and are collecting signatures calling for the road to be fixed.
The asphalt has been in place for decades and is now broken and potholed in many places. The roadbed has also sunk in some sections. Asko Kauppinen, who regularly drives the route, says the uneven surface shakes drivers and damages the tyres and undercarriages of vehicles carrying heavy machinery. Potholes force drivers to swerve, he says.
The regional vitality centre estimates that converting the road to gravel is its most likely future. Across Finland, about 50 kilometres of low-traffic asphalt roads are turned into gravel roads each year. Jarkko Pirinen, a road-condition expert at the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, says these roads typically carry fewer than 50 vehicles a day.
A report completed last year by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency found that road surface condition affects both injury accidents and driving speeds. Accident numbers were nearly twice as high on roads in the worst condition as on those in the best condition. The difference in average speeds between the two categories was 4.7 kilometres per hour.
Patching the worst holes on Kämärintie has provided only a temporary fix. Pirinen says roads are converted to gravel when they have deteriorated so badly that repaving is no longer worthwhile. Finland has more roads needing repair than available funding can cover, and the maintenance backlog is expected to grow under current funding levels.
Poor road conditions also affect rescue services. Anssi Partanen, a regional fire chief with the Central Finland Rescue Department, says crews may choose a smaller vehicle or a different route if a road or bridge cannot support their equipment. Rescue workers still reach difficult locations, sometimes by all-terrain vehicle or on foot.
Bus operator Osmo Paananen says he would prefer Kämärintie to remain paved. He says passenger transport on the road is carried out with safety as the priority.