![Aerial photo of the Rastila camping area. Photo: Akifoto oy](https://stplattaprod.blob.core.windows.net/etusivu64e62prod/styles/1.5_863w_576h/azure/001_Rastila_camping_Helsinki_2024_kuva_Aki_Rask_%282%29_0.jpg?h=e5aec6c8&itok=UoCDcU6u)
The traffic education provided in Children’s Traffic Town in Laakso is currently on hold and will be transferred to school and pre-primary education facilities.
The route for heavy transports to and from the major construction site next to the Laakso Children’s Traffic Town goes past the traffic town and the construction site causes noise and dust, which is why traffic education is currently on hold in the Laakso Children’s Traffic Town area. In the school year of 2024–2025, traffic education will be provided at schools and in preschool groups. Traffic school attendees learn the most important traffic rules for pedestrians and cyclists and delve into safe traffic behaviour together.
Children’s traffic education will return to the traffic town first in Rastila in the summer of 2025 when the new traffic town site opens. In Laakso, the traffic town is currently expected to reopen in 2028, after which the Rastila and Laakso traffic towns will both continue their operations.
Rastila camping area to be open throughout the renovation project
The new Children’s Traffic Town will be located in the western section of the caravan area of the Rastila camping area, near the Rastila beach and Vuotie. Construction work will only take part in the western section of the camping area, and all the services of the Rastila camping area will continue to be available during the construction of the Children’s Traffic Town site.
A designated passageway, which will not cross the camping area, will be built for the traffic town from the end of Karavaanikuja. The aim will be to plan the construction site to be as disturbance-free as possible, but the work will cause normal construction sounds.
Due to the construction of the traffic town, roughly 12–14 caravan spaces will be removed from the camping area. The aim will be to relocate these spaces somewhere else in the camping area.
The traffic town has been visited by many generations
Children’s Traffic Town has a long history as a learning environment for safe transport. In Laakso, the operations started in 1958.
The traffic town models traffic in Helsinki, shrinking it down into a fun learning environment suitable for children. The traffic town provides education, fun and safe transport. Attendees can move about on foot or by bike or drive a pedal car. The traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and traffic signs are the same as in real traffic, making it easy and enjoyable to learn about them.
The aim of the traffic town is to improve children’s traffic safety and inspire children and families to engage in sustainable transport.
![The location of Children’s Traffic Town in the Rastila camping area. Photo: Helsingin kaupunki](https://stplattaprod.blob.core.windows.net/etusivu64e62prod/styles/orig_735w_free/azure/rastila_camping_lasten_liikennekaupunki_kartta.jpg?itok=N1ps2v0Z)
![The crowded opening of the traffic town in Laakso in May 1958. Photo: Teuvo Kanerva](https://stplattaprod.blob.core.windows.net/etusivu64e62prod/styles/1.5_927w_618h/azure/liikennekaupunki_1958-Teuvo-Kanerva.jpg?h=4080fd4c&itok=xRF_t-LV)