The highway, which stretches from Murmansk City to the border station of Borisgleb has now been upgraded to Euro-standard, Vesti.ru reports. The road is part of the M-18 highway, the main road transport route stretching all through Murmansk Oblast.
As previously reported, major road construction has the last months been going on in the area close to the border. The road standard on the Russian side of the border is now far better than on the Norwegian side.
Read also: Road to Murmansk better than ever
Now, road construction is underway also on the highway to the Finnish border. According to Vesti, this new road will be completed in two months time. Finnish investors are reportedly ready to start develop also road service facilities and cafeterias.
-The better road infrastructure to Norway and Finland might make more Russians visit the neighboring countries, a customs official admitted to the Russian broadcaster.
The new road to Norway is opened just few days ahead of Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s visit to Murmansk. The two prominent politicians will on 15 September go to Murmansk to sign an historical agreement on the delineation of the Barents Sea, an agreement which could open a new era in Norwegian-Russian cooperation. In many ways, the new road can be seen as a signal of Russia’s interest in the area and in the good cross-border relations with the neighboring countries.
