Länsiväylä

The road begins in Ruoholahti in western Helsinki and continues west through the island of Lauttasaari and then across the city border to Espoo.

Almost all bus and private car traffic between central Helsinki and southern Espoo (such as the Tapiola and Otaniemi districts) passes along Länsiväylä.

However, the Länsimetro extension of the Helsinki Metro, which was completed in autumn 2017, replaced most bus routes on Länsiväylä.

A similar road, the Itäväylä (Eastern Highway, Swedish: Österleden) begins at Sörnäinen and continues eastwards towards Sipoo.

[3] The part between Ruoholahti and Gräsa (connection to Haukilahti in Espoo) was opened on 1 October 1965, and in the next year it was extended to Suomenoja.

[5] The highway was originally supposed to reach over Porkkalankatu over Hietalahdenranta and the former Helsinki harbour rail to Lönnrotinkatu and Uudenmaankatu.

[citation needed] The predecessor of Länsiväylä from 1933 to 1938 was Jorvaksentie, a two-lane highway leading from Helsinki to Jorvas in Kirkkonummi.

Its westernmost part was left in the Porkkala Naval Base in 1944, so the national road had to be rerouted via Kauklahti and Siuntio.

[1] As southern Espoo grew in population, Jorvaksentie became hopelessly insufficient, so a motor highway was built to replace it.