Murmansk road building company Murmanskavtodor started this week to rebuild the old cart road from Zapolyarny to Gulfstream, the old checkpoint on the road to Norway. The road will be ready in the spring 2014, the agency reports.
Today, most drivers prefer the twice as long way around the town of Nikel, instead of the short cut via Gulfstream. When the upgraded road is ready, drivers will save some 25 minutes on the route towards the border.
Another few minutes will be saved when the new road and bridge over the Pechenga River will be completed during 2012. The Pechenga road construction started in 2010 and includes some few kilometers between the two military garrisons 19 km and Sputnik. With the new road, traffic will no longer need to go through the village of Pechenga, a road distance that due to heavy military traffic is in rather bad shape.
In Murmansk, road authorities also have plans to upgrade the road from the new bridge crossing the Kola bay, along the harbor towards the city centre. Time-schedule for this road-upgrade is not yet announced.
On the Norwegian side of the border, the reconstruction of the road from the Storskog border station to Hesseng outside Kirkenes started earlier this year. The road will be broadened, curves will be flattened, a new bridge over the Pasvik River will be constructed and a tunnel will lead the traffic outside the Elvenes populated area. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration say the new road will be opened in the autumn of 2014.
In total, drivers will save at least half an hour on the drive between Murmansk and Kirkenes when all road reconstruction is completed in three years time.
