Government plans fees and restrictions to curb congestion caused by Russian lorries in transit

Police: idea good, but implementation difficult

print this

The government plans to place restrictions on a number of stretches of road in the southeast of Finland to limit the negative impact of increased goods traffic en route to Russia. Highways 6, 7, and 26 are to be among the areas affected.
      Russian lorries, mainly loaded with cars being imported from Germany, have caused a considerable increase in the number of heavy vehicles on highways in the area, and backups of vehicles waiting to cross the border into Russia have occasionally stretched 50 kilometres or more on the Finnish side.
      One possibility is to put a ban on the longest car transport lorries on highway 26 between Hamina and Taavetti, and to divert some of the traffic to alternate routes.
     
Minister of Transport Anu Vehviläinen (Centre) says that the restrictions can be implemented in a way that does not affect local vehicles.
      Later plans are to impose a vignette fee allowed for by European Union directives, as a compensation for the use of the highway network.
      Vehviläinen says that the fee would be imposed on Finnish vehicles as well, but that arrangements would be made to make sure that the total tax burden on Finnish haulers would not increase.
      The aim is to impose the restrictions with the upcoming winter in mind. The situation at the border has become increasingly difficult after a new Russian decree banned the use of the Vaalimaa border for car imports. This has forced the vehicles to use the Nuijamaa and Imatra crossings.
      Finland would like Russia to repeal the decree. Juhani Tervala, director-general at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, says that allowing the heavy lorries to use the Vaalimaa crossing would make it possible for Finland to impose fewer restrictions.
      A proposed parking area for queueing lorries has been delayed by a year by zoning appeals.
     
The proposed restrictions are welcomed by residents of the village of Heimala in Luumäki on highway 26, where heavy traffic has increased considerably in recent years. Local resident Juha Salmenkangas says that dangerous situations are frequent.
      Salmenkangas’s house is just 20 metres from a bend in the road, and he fears that a lorry taking an incautious turn could be dangerous.
      Driving his own car off his property onto the highway can be a precarious proposition, as visibility is not very good. “You can’t see very well beyond the bend, and they come so fast. I need to roll down the car window and try to listen.
      The massive highway traffic has also meant extra work for police in the area. Nevertheless, police are worried about the practicalities of implementation.
     
The government is considering an amendment to the law on road traffic, aimed at allowing some institution other than the police to monitor traffic.
      In addition, the government is planning a common data management system for the police, the Border Guard, and the Finnish Road Administration, so that each of the institutions would have real-time information on the lorries on Finnish roads.
      Minister Vehviläinen says that another option is to see if the lorry traffic can be regulated already in the Finnish harbours where the vehicles arrive. Another matter to be looked into is the possibility that the harbours where the lorries arrive in Finland might participate in the costs of the heavy traffic.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parking area for eastbound trucks to cost over EUR 24 million (27.3.2007)
  Ministry of Transport and Communications considering tolls for road users (25.1.2007)
  Asian electronics manufacturers reducing use of Finland for transit to Russia (23.5.2008)
  A million trucks and lorries over eastern border in 2007 (9.1.2008)
  Record queues threaten eastbound cross-border traffic at Christmas (13.12.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat