The plan for a new traffic tunnel in the Sörnäinen area of the capital is moving forward after the Helsinki City Board voted on Thursday morning to advance the proposal to the City Council.
The project, which has fuelled a years-long heated political debate, received a narrow 8-7 victory from the City Board. The plan was supported by the National Coalition Party (NCP), one of two Social Democratic Party (SDP) representatives, the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party, the Christian Democrats and Movement Now.
The proposal was opposed by the Greens and the Left Alliance.
The tunnel project has caused conflict between the parties on the board, with the vote to advance the project being postponed as recently as early this week.
Reports on the impact on traffic, both with or without the proposed tunnel, were presented at the board's meeting.
Earlier this week, SDP deputy mayor, Nasima Razmyar, demanded that the vote be postponed until further information was provided on how traffic in the area would be structured, in case that the tunnel would not be built.
Razmyar expressed concern over the project possibly being abandoned without consideration to the negative impact its absence would have on traffic.
The tunnel has been the cause of friction within the SDP. Even on the City Board, the party is divided. The fear among the SDP's council group leadership was that the split could have resulted in the tunnel not receiving the support it needed to move forward.
Now, however, the tunnel project advances to the City Council, which will vote on its necessity and potential construction.
While the tunnel has sparked heavy debate among the parties, the reports issued by the City of Helsinki are supportive of the project. According to studies conducted by the city, traffic would become unmanageable without the proposed tunnel.
Those opposing the project however claim that the tunnel would result in an increase, not a reduction, in traffic.
The intent of the tunnel is to facilitate north-south traffic, by moving car traffic -- particularly around Kalasatama, Suvilahti and Teurastamo -- below ground. This would allow for significant improvements to foot traffic and public transportation above ground.
Construction of the controversial tunnel has been scheduled to begin as early as next year. The current cost estimate for the 1.6-kilometre tunnel is approximately 180 million euros. If the project is approved and moves ahead as planned it could be opened for traffic in the early 2030s.
TetraSys Oy.