Arolan Freeway 15

Arolan Freeway 15 (Finnish: Moottoritie 15), signed and more commonly known as Freeway 15, is a major north-south auxiliary freeway in the Republic of Arola. Freeway 15 connects the Arolan Freeway 9 in downtown Kelvia to the Kelvia Kasala International Airport in Kasala.

Freeway 15 is currently the only Arolan freeway to have no rest stops in between exits, as well as the shortest in the whole of the Republic of Arola.

The first section between Arolan Freeway 14 and KKI initially opened as the Arolan Freeway 14A on 25th July 1973 and remained in this length until the opening of the Kelvia Big Dig (in turn based on Boston's ) in February 2012, when Freeway 15 was extended to join the Freeway 9.

History
During the planning stages of the Kelvia Kasala International Airport, plans were drawn up for a road link to the airport. While city planners suggested building a boulevard or rerouting the Freeway 14, the Arolan government rejected these plans and decided to build a three-lane spur highway of the Freeway 14. The city planners initially objected this idea, but later supported it as construction began in 1968.

The Arolan Freeway 14A soft opened on 25th July 1973, with equipment allocated to be transferred to the new KKI airport using the road. Freeway 14A officially opened to traffic the following morning, as part of the inauguration of KKI.

Kelvia Big Dig extension
With the boom of supermini cars in the early 1980s and the introduction of the Dillon Grande, the highway system in Arola began to be overcrowded and the Arolan government predicted that the highways would be at 100% capacity by the mid-2010s.

To resolve this problem, the Arolan government spent 4 years drafting a white paper report using feedback from Kelvia's residents. In September 1991, the Arolan government came to a conclusion that highways at the Kelvia city center would have to be rerouted underground, to make way for a widening project of Kelvia's city roads. This whole scheme became known as the Kelvia Big Dig, inspired by the Boston Big Dig that was in planning process at the same time.

As part of the Kelvia Big Dig, an extension of the Freeway 15 into the city center was proposed, becoming what would be the final stage of the Big Dig. On 7th December 2003, a groundbreaking ceremony of the Freeway 15 was held at the Quay@KVK exit of Freeway 9. Initially expected to be completed in 2010, the project was delayed by 2 years due to the, causing the overall project cost to skyrocket and a sharp decline of car traffic.

In November 2011, the Arolan government announced that the extension was 95% complete and would open in early 2012. True to their word, the rebuilt Quay@KVK exit on Freeway 9 opened on February 14th and the Freeway 15 extension fully opened to traffic on 16th February 2012.

On 17th February 2012, then-Arolan Prime Minister Aino Sori and her 4-year-old daughter Amethyst Sori Axelsson inaugurated the extension with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, officially concluding the Kelvia Big Dig project.

Kelvia city center
The Freeway 15 begins as a three-lane single carriageway tunnel at the Quay@KVK - Marine Parkway exit of the Freeway 9, before continuing north to downtown Kelvia and underneath the Kelvia Kasurila City Hospital. As Freeway 15 exits the Kelvia city center at Kovanen, the tunnel portion ends near business skyscrapers.

Ikosenniemi
Upon the end of the tunnel portion, the Freeway 15 continues as an at-grade dual carriageway as it snakes through the suburbs of Ikosenniemi and the bustling autocity of Teukkula. Entering the Kekkola suburb, the Freeway 15 intersects with the bypass Freeway 14 and passes by the Kasala Retail Park.

Kasala
After the Freeway 15 passes through Kekkola, it slowly enters the marshland and plains of Kasala, which is also a hotspot of many large triangular billboards. The Freeway 15 then ends at the Kelvia Kasala International Airport, where it is downgraded into a two-lane unidirectional loop highway alongside the terminals of KKI.