The City of Helsinki is preparing an alteration in the town plan to enable the construction of a harbour tunnel between West Harbour and the Länsiväylä highway. The plan is made in collaboration with Port of Helsinki.
The amount of traffic in West Harbour is increasing, and the purpose of the harbour tunnel is to improve the flow of traffic. The objective of the planning is that all of West Harbour’s goods traffic and a significant part of the port’s passenger car traffic will move underground in Jätkäsaari and Ruoholahti.
According to preliminary plans, the tunnel will travel underground through either Ruoholahti or Kamppi and Lapinlahti.
The mouth of the tunnel and sections above ground in Jätkäsaari would be located in the port area. There are three alternative locations for where the mouth on the other end of the tunnel could be placed near Länsiväylä. In one option, the tunnel would go underground at the edge of the Lapinlahti hospital park. In the two alternative options, the entrance and exit would be closer to Länsiväylä.
New facilities in Ruoholahti
A simultaneous, yet separate town plan project is a tall office building project on Itämerentori and Lepakonaukio and at Itämerenkatu 5. The purpose of the planning is to create jobs and services in the vicinity of the Ruoholahti metro station. The planning started at the initiative of three property companies active in the area.
The first part of the planning process includes the height and dimensions of the buildings, among other things. According to the preliminary plan, the building on Lepakonaukio could have 20–30 storeys and the building on Itämerentori could have 21–28 storeys. Itämerenkatu 5 would have a building with 11–16 storeys. The buildings are planned to fit the existing facilities.
All of the office buildings under planning are located on the northern side of the existing residential apartment blocks in Ruoholahti, so their shading impact is insignificant.
Along with the planning of the facilities, an alteration in the town plan is being planned for the northern part of Salmisaari’s business area. The planning is related to the harbour tunnel’s traffic arrangements and potential infill construction in the area.
How is the planning progressing?
Both town plan projects began in December. More information about the preliminary plans is available in the Voice Your Opinion service (https://kerrokantasi.hel.fi(Link leads to external service)) where you can also give feedback until 20 January 2023.
You can discuss the plans at resident events organised at the Urban Environment Division house ( Työpajankatu 8, Helsinki) on Monday 16 January 2023. The Itämerenkatu and Lepakonaukio project will be presented from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The harbour tunnel project will be presented from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The projects will be presented in Finnish.
As the plans are being prepared, the impact of their implementation will be assessed in terms of, among other things, living conditions, nature, the cityscape, cultural heritage and traffic. The planning will result in a town plan proposal subject to approval from the Helsinki Urban Environment committee, City Board and, finally, City Council. The objective is to have both plan proposals ready for decision-making in autumn 2023.