City of Turku's Joint Port Area Master and Mobility Plan

Over the coming decades, the surroundings of Turku Castle and the port area will be facing major changes. Guidelines are currently being prepared for what the area will look like in the future. Residential area Linnakaupunki is already being built and the results of the international idea competition for the Linnanniemi area has been announced. The prize-winning, purchased and honourable mentioned entries of the idea competition will be utilized in the zoning of the area. The aim is, that Linnanniemi will be a centre of year-round urban culture where history, sea and archipelago can be experienced simultaneously. The area is also envisioned to be accessible with all forms of transport. To serve these purposes, a traffic and mobility master plan for the Turku port area was prepared within HUPMOBILE project.

The preparation of the traffic and mobility master plan for Turku port area started in autumn 2019. The starting point of the work was to create a plan for the development of the traffic arrangements and mobility services in the area, taking all modes of transport into account. The purpose of the plan was to connect the planned ship passenger terminal smoothly and safely with its surroundings, improve the accessibility of the port area and promote forms of sustainable mobility. The master plan examines the area surrounding the new terminal as well as other traffic connections in the vicinity of the port area. During the work, interviews about passengers’ travel modes were conducted by Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) in both passenger terminals (arrivals and departures of evening ships) to supplement the initial data. Also, a vision workshop involving different stakeholders was organized.

The port is an important concentration of cultural sites and is considered the city's gateway for international shipping and archipelago traffic. The port is directly accessible e.g. by train and long-distance buses, which is yet a clear advantage when it comes to sustainable mobility options for passengers. However, the areas surrounding the current port terminals have been built in stages and are perceived as difficult to grasp. The street network is mainly dimensioned for the needs of heavy traffic or the solutions are outdated. Fragmented traffic areas dominate the valuable cultural landscape.

The master plan for 2029 guides the construction of Linnakaupunki and Linnanniemi towards centre-like area and the construction has progressed during the preparation of the Joint Port Area Master and Mobility Plan. This plan was included as a starting point and background information in the Linnanniemi international idea competition. In order to develop the port's public transport connections, the city has prepared e.g. tramway and trunk bus plans. The planned new joint terminal means that car traffic into ships will leave the Linnanniemi area completely, which will significantly free up space for the development of the area.

Apart from being linked to the HUPMOBILE project, the Traffic and Mobility Master Plan is also linked to the Ferry Terminal project, where shipping companies Tallink Silja Oy and Viking Line Abp, the Port of Turku and the City of Turku are working together for the development of the port area. The purpose of the Ferry Terminal project is to allow a new common ship terminal to be built and the port area’s operations and traffic arrangements to be developed.

The material of this report has been compiled by WSP Finland Oy. The whole report is available in Finnish.

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Joint Port Area Master and Mobility Plan of the City of Turku (summary in English)	4.54 MB