The A6 is a national road in Latvia, connecting Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 to the Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

ian border at Pāternieki. It bypasses

Bypass (road)

A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....

 Daugavpils

Daugavpils

Daugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...

 in its north and passes through Krāslava

Kraslava

Krāslava is a major town in Krāslava municipality, in the Latgalia region of eastern Latvia.-History:* Krāslava was an important hillfort on the waterway from Variags to Greeks since early Middle Ages, part of the orthodox Principality of Jersika in 13th century.* In 1558 was mentioned for the...

 and is also known as the Daugavpils Highway in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

.

The road is part of European route E22

European route E22

The European route E 22 is one of the longest European routes. It has a length of about . Many of the E-roads have been extended into Asia since the year 2000; the E 22 was extended on 24 June 2002.-United Kingdom:...

, European route E262

European route E262

European route E 262 is a road part of the International E-road network. It begins in Kaunas, Lithuania and ends in Ostrov, Pskov Oblast, Russia. The section in Lithuania from Kaunas to the Latvia border, near Zarasai is named after A6 highway....

 and the Latvian TEN-T road network. Once inside Belarus, the road becomes the Belarusian P20

Roads in Belarus

Automobile roads in Belarus are classified into several categories.-State-owned common access roads:The state-owned roads of common access are managed by the Belavtodor department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus...

. The length of the A6 in Latvian territory is 307 kilometres (190.8 mi). Currently the A6 has two lanes in each direction between Riga and Ogre

Ogre, Latvia

Ogre is the principal town of Ogre District in Central Latvia, 36 km east of the capital Riga, situated at the confluence of the Daugava and Ogre rivers...

 and between Nīcgale

Nicgale

- External links :*...

 and Daugavpils, with other parts having just a single carriageway. The current speed limit in winter is 90 kilometres per hour (55.9 mph), but in summer the dual carriageway parts are raised to 100 kilometres per hour (62.1 mph).

Since 2008 a shorter route has been under construction, mainly built for transit traffic. The construction of it was first started in the 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

, but the plan was abandoned later. The first stage of the construction starts in Tīnuži and ends in Koknese

Koknese

Koknese is a historic town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Koknese municipality on the right bank of the Daugava River. It has a population of nearly 3,000.-History:...

. This should be completed by 2012, but due to property problems it could be delayed to 2013. The second stage (2017-2021) will be the widening of the stretch between Tīnuži and Koknese

Koknese

Koknese is a historic town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Koknese municipality on the right bank of the Daugava River. It has a population of nearly 3,000.-History:...

 from 1x1 lanes to 2x2 lanes and converting it into a motorway. Between 2020 and 2027 the authorities plan to bring the new road into Riga. It would also have 2x2 lanes with an expressway/motorway status. There are also plans to continue the new road parallel to the A6 as far as Pļaviņas

Plavinas

Pļaviņas is a town in Latvia. The town is located on the Daugava river.-See also:*List of cities in Latvia*Pļaviņas municipality...

. The annual average daily traffic

Annual average daily traffic

Average Annual daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning and transportation engineering. It is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a year divided by 365 days. AADT is a useful and simple measurement of how busy the road is...

of the A6 in 2010 was 9,408 vehicles.