Vuosaari Harbour Road System, Helsinki, Finland
Posted on Sep 25, 2008 under Harbour | No Comment
Vuosaari Harbour will be one of the most modern seaports in Europe when it opens in 2008. The new harbour is located in the Vuosaari area of East Helsinki and will handle the majority of cargo for the greater Helsinki area.
The concept behind the new harbour is the rearrangement of cargo handling, rail depot, and oil harbour to release valuable land for commercial and residential development (shipping operations at the West Harbour and Sörnäinen Harbour will be moved to the new harbour).
The total area of the new harbour will be 150ha (90ha of land is being reclaimed from the sea) and there will also be a 75ha business developed adjacent to the harbour.
This development also requires an improvement in transportation infrastructure around the harbour and this means a new railway line and the extension of the Outer Ring III road to the harbour.
n October 2007 Finland’s longest road tunnel (Porvarinlahti road tunnel) was opened but was closed again due to a camera fault in the traffic management system. The dual tunnel then reopened in January 2008 after correction of faults and testing.
The 1,520m tunnel (one tunnel for each direction) links the Outer Ring Road III to the new Vuosaari Harbour gate and takes the road under the Natura 2000 conservation area and Labacka. Following the tunnel the road resurface’s in the southern part of Österängen and then joins Ring III at the Itäväylä interchange.
The new 2.5km harbour road (Satamatie) itself will be the main dual carriageway to and from the purpose-built harbour and will be opened at the end of 2008. The costs of the traffic infrastructure for the Vuosaari Harbour have been estimated at €289m.
The new road will have the effect of routing heavy traffic away from the city and reducing congestion on the Inner Ring Road, Kehä I, as well as providing a vital heavy goods link to serve the harbour, the logistics area, the business park, and the district of Vuosaari (Laivanrakentajantie will be connected to the harbour road).
Over 3,600 trucks a day will be diverted from downtown Helsinki and Ring I when the harbour is opened at the end of 2008; in total there are expected to be around 10,000 vehicles a day using the road.