Töölö businesses oppose planned tram over access fears

Businesses and residents in Helsinki’s Töölö district are opposing plans to build a tram line on Topeliuksenkatu, fearing that reduced parking, narrower pavements and changed traffic arrangements will drive customers away, Yle reports.

The tram is part of Helsinki’s 310 million euro West Trams project. In June, residents held a protest, and local businesses are still collecting signatures for a petition against the section planned for Topeliuksenkatu.

Flower shop owner Tanja Lähdeaho has been considering since spring what she would do if construction goes ahead.

“There has been a flower shop here for 100 years, but now I may have to leave,” she said.

Lähdeaho fears that deliveries from wholesalers will become impossible. Under the plans, delivery traffic for her shop would be moved to the other side of the block, about 300 metres away.

“The risk is that the flowers will die during delivery. They cannot withstand the cold. We cannot bring flowers in wheeled carts along the pavements,” she said.

Lähdeaho would prefer the tram to be built on nearby Mechelininkatu instead.

A wider tram project

The Topeliuksenkatu line is part of a larger plan to build Helsinki’s next light rail line, number 14, from Kannelmäki through Munkkiniemi and along Mannerheimintie, a major city street, to the city centre.

The West Trams project is estimated to cost about 310 million euros. The Topeliuksenkatu section would cost 29 million euros, while the section in the inner city would cost 80 million euros.

The project is intended to extend urban-style housing along Helsinki’s old approach routes, Vihdintie and Huopalahdentie, bringing about 14,000 new residents to the city.

Light rail from Kannelmäki is expected to run faster than regular trams on Mannerheimintie. As a result, tram line 4 would be moved from Mannerheimintie to Topeliuksenkatu, according to project director Anton Silvo of the City of Helsinki.

Silvo said the city was not building only a single track, but carrying out a broader urban development project. Public transport in western Helsinki is to be shifted from buses to rail, with bus traffic in Töölö expected to fall to one fifth of its current level.

Residents collect signatures

Not everyone in Topeliuksenkatu supports moving tram line 4. Businesses and a small residents’ group are collecting signatures against the plans.

Opponents say Topeliuksenkatu is too narrow for both trams and cycle lanes. The plans would reduce the number of parking spaces, change traffic directions on side streets and narrow the space available for pedestrians.

Matti Luokola, one of the organisers of the opposition group, says the city has not carried out enough impact assessments. He fears the consequences for nature, businesses and residents’ everyday lives have not been properly considered.

“This will become a through road. The area’s value will collapse when people can no longer live here. This place will simply wither away,” Luokola said.

Local businesses have also criticised the loss of parking spaces and wide pavements. Laundry business owner Riikka Itävuori opposes the tram because customers would no longer be able to bring large carpets to the business by car if the pavement becomes narrower.