Vestnes

Vestnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestnes. Other villages in the municipality include Vikebukt, Vik, Øverås, Fiksdal, Tomrefjord, and Tresfjord.

The area is known for nature and outdoor pursuits, and has a long history in ship building and maritime crafts. The village of Vestnes (Helland) dates back to early medieval times, and has 24-hour ferry and water taxi service with the town of Molde to the northeast. The ferry takes about 35-minutes each way.

General information
The municipality of Vestnes was established in the fall of 1838 when the western district of the large Veøy Municipality was separated to form its own municipality (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1899, the southern district of Tresfjord (population: 1,408) was separated from Vestnes to form its own municipality, but it was merged back into Vestnes on 1 January 1964.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vestnes farm (Old Norse: Vestnes), since the first Vestnes Church was built there. The first element is vestr which means "west" and the last element is nes which means "headland". Before 1889, the name was written Vestnæs.

Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 11 April 1980. The arms have a red background with two triangular gold spikes pointing right. The arms represent the geography of the municipality: a headland between two fjords&mdash;the Tresfjorden and the Tomrefjorden.

Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Vestnes. It is part of the Indre Romsdal deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

Geography
Vestnes is located in an area of great natural splendour on the southern shores of the Romsdalsfjorden. The Tresfjorden and Tomrefjorden branch off the Romsdalsfjord to the south. Vestnes borders Rauma Municipality to the east, as well as Stordal Municipality and Ørskog Municipality to the south. Across the Moldefjorden to the north is Midsund Municipality and Molde Municipality.

Economy
Vestnes is a relatively good agricultural community with emphasis on livestock and milk production. Vestnes, however, is primarily a manufacturing district. The main industry is the ship-building industry with a number of different companies located in Vestnes. A total of 63% of industry employment (2004) in Vestnes is part of the ship-building industry. Other that shipbuilding, there are several companies in the food, textile and clothing, wood products, furniture, and metal products industries in Vestnes.

Transportation
The European route E39 highway goes through Vestnes on its way from Sjøholt to Molde. The European route E136 highway goes through Vestnes on its way from Ålesund to Dombås. The two highways intersect and share part of the route through Vestnes. The new Tresfjord Bridge is under construction and should be open in 2014 or 2015. It will carry the E136 highway over the Tresfjorden rather than the current roadway that follows the shoreline all the way around the fjord.

Notable residents

 * Mali Furunes (1888–1968)
 * Bjørn Rune Gjelsten (born 1956), a Norwegian businessman
 * Bernt Hulsker (born 1977), a Norwegian retired footballer
 * Sigrun Misund (born 1955)
 * Kjetil Rekdal (born 1968), a Norwegian football manager and a former footballer
 * Terje Rypdal (born 1947), a Norwegian guitarist and composer