Private Roads

Private roads are roads that are maintained by property owners and other stakeholders of the road. The road stakeholders are responsible for participating in the building and maintenance of the road according to the benefits it provides for each stakeholder. The stakeholders of the road can organize and form a road maintenance association if there are several stakeholders and/or if the road maintenance based on the principle of consensus becomes difficult.

Every year the City of Turku hands outs grants for fundamental improvement and maintenance (approx. 70,000 €) for road maintenance associations in the Turku administrative region. 

Maintenance grant

Maintenance work that entitle for a maintenance grant:

  • surfacing and leveling of the road
  • dust binding
  • coppice control
  • mowing
  • ploughing
  • signing the road for ploughing
  • winter surfacing
  • adding gravel or aggregate to the wearing surface
  • weeding trenches
  • other similar work with the aim of ensuring that the road is in a good condition for daily traffic

Apply for maintenance grant by filling in the maintenance application. Attach the following documents to the application:

  • an excerpt of the debit statement (also a list of stakeholders where the unit fee/unit and collected annual fees have been marked is acceptable)
  • an excerpt of the minutes of the road maintenance association’s annual meeting of the current year in which the last year’s accounts have been accepted
  • a duplicate of the financial statement (received grants, charged usage fees, basic fees, and unit fees must be classified separately in the proceeds)
  • duplicates of the previous year’s receipts related to road maintenance

Submit the application to the Public Utility Property Management by the end of August of the current year.

Maintenance grants are allocated within the limits of the allowance as percentage grants of the road maintenance association’s last year’s expenditure. Additionally, the city allocates extra maintenance grants primarily based on discretion for roads that hold substantial regional significance mainly in relation to through-traffic. Invoices of fundamental improvement grants or administrative costs are not approved as the basis for a maintenance grant.

Fundamental improvements grant

Improvement work that entitle for a fundamental improvements grant:

  • fundamental repairs of trenches, culverts, and bridges
  • straightening a road
  • raising a road
  • removing in-ground stones
  • building turnarounds or passings
  • other such fundamental improvements that aim at improving the structure and condition of the road

Fundamental maintenance grants and surfacing grants are allocated based on inspections made before any work has been conducted, by discretion, and within the limits of the allowance.

Apply for a fundamental improvements or surfacing grant by filling in the fundamental improvements application. Attach the application with a map of the target of the fundamental improvements or surfacing. Please note that the roads that are to be surfaced must have their foundations and trenching in good condition.

The application must be delivered to the Urban Environment Division by the end of April of the current year. Paid invoices related to the fundamental improvements must be presented to the Urban Environment Divisionby the end of the year. The grant will be paid to the account of the road maintenance association.

Street name signs and traffic signs on private roads

The placement and maintenance of street name signs of private roads are taken care of and paid for by the city. A precondition for putting up a street name sign is that the Urban Environment Division has confirmed the name (address) of the road. The road maintainer needs the city’s consent for putting up a permanent traffic sign. 

For additional information about traffic signs please contact:
Harry Jaakkola