Background

As the principal shareholder in the E18 Hamina to Vaalimaa Motorway, Meridiam has continued its involvement in upgrading Finland’s infrastructure. This was the second public private partnership Meridiam formed with the Finland Transport Agency (FTA). It consists of the major reconstruction and upgrade of Finland’s historical Route 7 highway to motorway standard.
The road is a vital transport corridor for Finland, going from Turku in the west to Helsinki and the Russian border at Vaalimaa. Hamina to Vaalimaa was the last section to be upgraded to motorway standard, giving an economic boost to
Finland’s southern cities and the wider European trade and commerce. The E18 is part of the Trans European Road Network connecting Helsinki and Scandinavia to St Petersburg.
The design and construction works of the Project were conducted by YIT. O&M of the overall 59km corridor is being performed by YIT.

Stage:

In Operation

ESG/SDG Key Facts

Environmental protection activities have been undertaken during the investment period:
• Flying squirrels’ territories were considered when planning the motorway alignment. The cross-section of the motorway has been narrowed to improve the flying squirrels’ possibilities of crossing the road, which reduces the disruption caused by the interruption of an ecological corridor. Several feeding and resting areas, as well as forests highly suited to flying squirrels remain in the immediate vicinity of the road and have been monitored to prevent any risk. These areas are under constant monitoring
• Before construction, terrain inspections at all five waterway bridges were carried out to identify bats’ feeding in the area.
These inspections have continued during construction and operation
• Ecological pathways were also secured with two green bridges and 27 underpasses for animals, one crossover for flying
squirrels and suitable shore structures under bridges for otters.
• The historical landmark Salpalinja has been carefully protected, a bridge was built over it to ensure preservation and special care was taken during construction
A donation to the country’s custom’s dog academy was made in order to support the fight against drug trafficking.