European route E67 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

European route E 67 is a E-road running from Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

to Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

by way of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, 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...

, and Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

.

It is known as the Via Baltica between Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

and Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

, a distance of 970 kilometres (602.7 mi). It is a significant road connection between the Baltic states

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

. The final stretch between Tallinn and Helsinki

Helsinki

is by ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

(with about 10 car ferry departures each direction per day).

The road is mostly ordinary road, but there are plans to convert it into a motorway or expressway

Limited-access road

A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...

, in Poland called S8

Expressway S8 (Poland)

Expressway S8 or express road S8 is major road in Poland which, when completed, will run along the route Wrocław – Łódź – Warsaw – Białystok. The whole road is planned to be about long...

and S61

Expressway S61 (Poland)

Expressway S61 or express road S61 is major planned road in Poland which is going to run from the Lithuanian A5 at the Polish-Lithuanian border near Budzisko to intersect express road S8 near Ostrów Mazowiecka. The expressway became part of the polish planned expressway network with the approval of...

. The Via Baltica attracted great controversy in 2007, as its planned new express road was to take it through several areas in Poland of great natural value. Most controversial was the Augustów

Augustów

Augustów is a town in north-eastern Poland with 29,600 inhabitants . It lies on the Netta River and the Augustów Canal. It is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship , having previously been in Suwałki Voivodeship . It is the seat of Augustów County and of Gmina Augustów.In 1970 Augustów became...

bypass, which would take the route through the wetlands of the Rospuda Valley, the last area of its kind remaining in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and an area protected by EU law as part of the European Natura 2000 Network

Natura 2000

Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas in the territory of the European Union.-Origins:In May 1992, the governments of the European Communities adopted legislation designed to protect the most seriously threatened habitats and species across Europe. This legislation is called the...

. In July 2007 Polish Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński halted work on the bypass after the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

applied for an immediate injunction. The Polish environment minister Jan Szyszko

Jan Szyszko

Jan Szyszko is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 7042 votes in the 20th Warsaw district, candidating from Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list.-External links:...

had agreed to the route, despite receiving on 2007-02-28 a warning from the European Commission that Poland would be fined for going ahead with the route. Campaigners have proposed an alternative, cheaper route.

See also