Highways in Finland

Summary

Highways in Finland, or Main roads, comprise the highest categories of roads in Finland:

  • Main roads Class I – Finnish: valtatiet; Swedish: riksvägar – numbered 1–39, between major cities
  • Main roads Class II – Finnish: kantatiet; Swedish: stamvägar – numbered 40–99, between regional centers
Map of highways in Finland. Class I in red, Class II in yellow.

Network map edit

 
Interactive map of highways of Finland

Overview edit

Highways numbered from 1 to 7 radiate from the capital Helsinki (Highways 2, 5 and 6 diverge from 1, 4 and 7, respectively), while highways 8 to 10 radiate from Turku on the south-western coast of Finland. Highways 11 and 12 originate in Tampere. The rest of the highways start from other major cities.

Sections of highways between major cities have often been upgraded to motorways, for example between Helsinki and Tampere. Since Finland is a large and sparsely populated country, there is no reason to upgrade all highways to motorways.

The motorway network totals 926 kilometres (575 mi). In addition to that, there are 124 kilometres (77 mi) of motortrafficways, which are reserved only for motor traffic.[1]

List of current highways edit

 
Map of Finnish motorways
 
Valtatie 1 near Halikko
 
Large highway junction in Tampere
  Helsinki − Turku
  Vihti (1 km)
  VantaaTampere - Ylöjärvi
  Helsingby (Korsholm) − Vaasa
  HelsinkiHeinola
  VaajakoskiJyväskylä − Kirri
  LiminkaOuluHaukipudas
  Marostenmäki (Simo) − KemiKeminmaa (20,9 km)
  Lusi, Heinola (3 km)
  Vehmasmäki − Kuopio
  Kuopio − Siilinjärvi
  Mansikkala − Kaukopää (Imatra)
  Reijola − Käpykangas (Joensuu) (10,8 km)
  HelsinkiKotkaVaalimaa[2]
  TurkuNousiainen
  KorsholmVaasa (shared with valtatie 3)
  TurkuLieto
  ViialaTampere
  Kuopio − Siilinjärvi (part of Valtatie 5)
  Ylämylly (Liperi) − Reijola (Joensuu) (21 km)
  TampereNokia
  Lohjanharju − Lohja (part of Valtatie 1)
  TornioKeminmaa (World's northernmost motorway)

Former highway alignments edit

The former routes of the following highways differ significantly from the current ones, or have been completely abolished.

Rings edit

 
Ring I (Kehä I) in Pukinmäki, a northern district of Helsinki

Highways in Åland edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The current road section between Klaukkala and Loppi is now known as regional road 132.

References edit

  1. ^ Finnish Road Statistics 2010. Statistics from the Finnish Transport Agency 6/2011 (ISSN-L 1798-811X). Helsinki: Finnish Transport Agency (FTA). 2011. pp. 23, 49. ISBN 978-952-255-699-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Suomen pisin moottoritie on vihdoin valmis – rakentaminen kesti 62 vuotta".
  3. ^ "Liikenne- ja viestintäministeriö - Valtatie 9 ulottuu jatkossa läpi Suomen". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2012-05-02.

External links edit

  • Finnish Transport Agency
  • Finnish Road Administration
  • Finnish Road Association[permanent dead link]
  • Introduction to Roads in Finland by Matti Grönroos