Crash-prone Ylämylly junction faces upgrade no earlier than 2030

A person was seriously injured in a crash at the accident-prone Ylämylly junction in Liperi, North Karelia, on Tuesday, Yle reports. A grade-separated interchange and additional lanes are planned for the junction, but the project will not be completed before 2030.

The junction connects national road 9 with Liperintie. Lauri Hirvonen, a duty fire officer with the North Karelia rescue service, said accidents had occurred at the same location frequently in recent weeks.

The planned project is larger than the construction of an interchange. Under the plans, a six-kilometre section of national road 9 west of Ylämyllyntie would be converted into a motorway in both directions.

Mikko Laitinen, a project manager at the Eastern Finland vitality centre, said the large volume of traffic on national road 9 makes it difficult to join the road from the direction of Liperi.

The road plan for the junction redevelopment was completed in autumn 2024. The government granted the project a funding authorisation of 49 million euros at its budget framework session last spring.

Parliament must still make the final funding decision, and the project is not included in the state road network investment plan for the coming years.

Tero Kuittinen, chair of the Liperi municipal executive board, said the project had been delayed for almost a decade.

“Does more people have to lose their lives before the safety of the area improves?” he said.

An appeal by the Permits and Supervisory Agency over the local detailed plan is also delaying the project. The appeal, which concerns the area’s nature values, is being considered by the administrative court.

In the best-case scenario, the plan would have legal force in early 2027 and the road plan could be approved in the summer of that year, Laitinen said. Construction could begin towards the end of 2028, with the improved road completed in 2030.