European route E18

European route E18 begins at Northern Ireland, then through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to end at Russia. It is about 1,890 km (1,174 mi) in length.

United Kingdom

The road runs through Craigavon – Belfast – Larne, then Stranraer – Gretna – Carlisle to Newcastle (the A69).Like all European routes it is not signposted in the United Kingdom.

Norway and Sweden

It is connected by ferry to Kristiansand in Norway. The DFDS ferry connection, however, closed down towards the end of 2006. In Norway and Sweden the road continues Kristiansand – Arendal – Porsgrunn – Larvik – Sandefjord – Tønsberg – Horten – Drammen – Oslo – Askim – Karlstad – Örebro – Västerås – Stockholm/Kapellskär. Much of the route through northern Vestfold was disrupted due to the collapse of the Hanekleiv tunnel and the need for additional repairs in the other tunnels in that area.

Finland and Russia

The connection over the Baltic Sea from Sweden to Turku/Naantali Finland is by cruiseferries operated by Silja Line and Viking Line. It is also possible to take a direct route to Helsinki. In theory it is also possible to cross the sea via Åland and the Åboland islands by island hopping over bridges, by cable ferries and ferries along the Archipelago Ring Road, but this route is not marked as E18.

In Finland it goes from Åland through southern Finland via the major cities of Turku/Naantali – Salo – Lohja – Helsinki – Porvoo – Loviisa – Kotka – Hamina – Vaalimaa, and then to Russia along the Russian route M10 to cities Vyborg – Saint Petersburg. The main problem with this stretch is the Russian Border Control, which is poorly equipped for the volume of traffic using it [ [http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/alk/rajaliikenne/e18_en.html Queue situation at the Finnish/Russian border] ] .

References

External links

* [http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/alk/rajaliikenne/e18_en.html Queue situation at the Finnish/Russian border] .