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TRANSPORT/INFRASTRUCTURE
Vuosaari Harbour, Finland
CONNECTING THE HARBOUR TO ROAD AND RAIL NETWORKS
Client:
Finnish Road Administration, Port of Helsinki
Project value:
Total cost of road and railway links: £162M
Project size:
2.5 km road with 1.5 km twin tunnel section under sea
19 km railway with 14 km tunnel section
Status:
Planning and detailed design complete 2004
Construction ongoing, complete 2008
WSP services:
Infrastructure planning
Traffic engineering
Civil engineering
Rail engineering
Bridge design
Highway design
Landscape design
Cost-effective and efficient harbour services are an important factor
in the development of Finland’s economy.A third of its foreign trade
passes through the port of Helsinki.A new harbour currently under
construction at Vuosaari, on the eastern periphery of Helsinki, will
provide increased capacity as well as greater efficiency of harbour
operations and freight transportation.
WSP was appointed in 2000 by the Finnish Road Administration to
plan the land transport connections linking Vuosaari harbour to the
public road and rail networks.WSP undertook the planning as one
of the consultant groups involved in the work, and focused on the
planning and design of road and rail connections, the harbour
interchange, traffic planning of the harbour interchange and gate area,
as well as environmental planning and design.The detailed design of
road and rail links was completed in 2004 and site design services
will continue until 2007.
The project, which aims to encourage greater use of the railways for
land traffic, involves construction of a 19 km, single-track, electrified
railway to transport freight between the main Helsinki-Riihimäki line
and the harbour.To minimise the environmental impacts, most of the
railway will run through two tunnels with a total length of over 14 km.
A new 2.5 km four-lane road connecting the harbour directly
to the metropolitan Ring Road 3 will also be built, including three
interchanges and a 1.5 km twin tunnel section under the sea.
This will ease road traffic congestion in Helsinki city centre and its
inbound routes.A dominant feature of this part of the project is the
Laivanrakentajantie (Shipbuilder Road) interchange, which provides a
functional high quality entrance to the harbour.
On completion of the new harbour, freight harbour operations will
move from central Helsinki to Vuosaari, freeing large areas for
housing and office use. It is anticipated that homes will be built in
these areas for over 20 000 people, whilst Vuosaari harbour and new
buildings to be constructed nearby will provide some 3500 new jobs.