New Ratapihankatu Bridge Opens in Tampere; Weekend Detours and Parking Ramps Closed

Ratapihankatu's new bridge in Tampere opens this weekend, and through traffic between Åkerlundinkatu and Väinölänkatu will be closed for the weekend, YLE reports.

ePressi adds that the bridge reopened to all traffic at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday 18 April, after pedestrian and cycle access was restored the previous morning.

Aamulehti adds that the closure began on Friday night specifically so crews could install the bridge section between Åkerlundinkatu and Vellamonkatu. The outlet clarifies that the reopened stretch replaces the road that had run alongside the new structure during construction. According to Aamulehti, after the bridge section was installed, workers resurfaced and cleaned the street within a few hours before traffic returned to the original route.

The 62-metre-long, 15-metre-wide bridge is the first of five being replaced over the Itsenäisyydenkatu underpass as part of the more than €200 million passenger rail yard renewal. Traffic will be returned to its original alignment and the temporary detour across the rail yard will be removed; two temporary roundabouts installed during construction will remain because they have improved traffic flow. ePressi also reports that Väylävirasto closed Ratapihankatu to through motor traffic between Åkerlundinkatu and Vellamonkatu from Friday 17 April at 9 p.m., to complete commissioning work overnight, including removing a temporary detour, finishing roadworks and cleaning, and establishing new site boundaries.

P-Hämppi ramps Tullinramppi and P-Noutoparkki will be closed over the weekend, though the Torni Hotel remains reachable by car from Åkerlundinkatu. Väylävirasto project manager Jetro Matilainen says traffic should be back to normal by Monday morning: "Ratapihankatu will be opened and traffic directed to the new bridge as soon as finishing works and cleaning are complete." Project manager Jussi Kiuru adds that late-spring work will move onto the passenger rail yard, starting demolition of the old station tunnel roof and the first track bridge, with extensive track work and reconstruction of four 1930s-era rail bridges planned over the next four years.