A causeway was built between Riutunkari in Oulu and Huikku on Hailuoto Island. The causeway replaced the former ferry service. The causeway is approximately 8.4 kilometres long and consists of an embankment road and two long bridges in Huikku and Riutunkari. The causeway makes Hailuoto more easily accessible nationally and regionally, enables better passenger and goods transport links to the island and local businesses, and expands the commuter area for Hailuoto residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bridges in Huikku and Riuttu are continuous composite bridges with reinforced concrete deck slabs, realised with constant-depth girders. The total consumption of concrete for the bridge structures was about 22,000 cubic metres. The massive deck slab concreting of the Huikku bridge, for example, took several days of uninterrupted work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the conditions, the bridges are exposed to high wind and ice loads, and the marine environment means that higher strength and frost resistance requirements than normal were to be met with the concrete used in the bridges. The bridges of the Hailuoto causeway were built using a special ready-mix concrete designed for extremely challenging marine and winter conditions with exceptionally high requirements for strength, density and frost resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concrete is required to withstand a continuous freeze-thaw attack in a saline marine environment. The fresh concrete was protected against frost deterioration with precise air entrainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excessive heating was prevented by designing an appropriate concrete composition and by installing specific cooling pipes with the rebars to help to eliminate cracking caused by temperature differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The construction work of the Hailuoto causeway started in May 2024, and the causeway was opened to traffic at the end of June 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n