Helsinki plans to cover Itäväylä highway at Itäkeskus
Residential blocks and a movie complex to be erected on deck across urban motorway
The City of Helsinki plans to build a deck over Itäväylä, the "Eastern Lead" urban motorway, to link together the four parts of the Itäkeskus shopping mall, the largest shopping centre in the Nordic countries. The paved deck could be used by pedestrians and cyclists, while motor vehicles would run under the planned platform.
At present the four parts of the mall are divided by streets, with access across footbridges.
The City intends to build a total of 290,000 to 330,000 square metres of new floorspace over the highway, which is nearly as much space as the Itäkeskus mall is currently housing, or seven times as much as the department store of Stockmann’s has in downtown Helsinki.
Only a small part of the new space is planned to offer business premises.
The tallest landmark in the reconstructed Itäkeskus shopping centre would be a 24-storey office tower.
The plan also includes the construction of a hotel and a large new multiplex movie theatre as well as seven 16-storey residence towers. The foundations of the planned residence towers would be made on the ground level, from where they would go up through the deck.
The planned platform would also help to prevent noise and exhaust emissions, which will increase once the new harbour in Vuosaari starts operating and when the construction of houses begins in Southwestern Sipoo in the near future.
The first Finnish mall built over a highway was opened in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland, last year.
Another mall as well as a number of residences are being planned in the centre of Hämeenlinna, spanning the Helsinki-Tampere motorway. The planned construction would also link the city centre to the other districts of the city.
Helsingin Sanomat
