Abstract

STUDY ON INTERNATIONAL ROAD TRAFFIC IN SAVO-KARELIA REGION

The objective of this study is to produce information on the international road traffic of Savo-Karelia region in order to develop the services of that traffic and to direct the measures to be taken. The research consists of the following parts: The passenger traffic crossing the east border, the goods traffic crossing the east border, the international transports of the biggest industrial and transport enterprises on Savo-Karelia, choice of transport mode in import transports of raw wood and the scenario of the east bound traffic in Savo-Karelia. The properties, views and aims of the passenger traffic crossing the east border was clarified by interviews performed at the border station of Niirala and the goods traffic crossing the border with the help of a sampling of customs clearance documents concerning the year 1998. The development alternatives of the passenger and truck traffic until the year 2030 was studied by the scenario method. The transports and the visions of the biggest enterprises in the region were clarified by an interview study.

The person traffic passing Niirala has in the last years grown strongly. In the year 1999 the traffic grew as much as 47 per cent compared with the previous year. In the year 1999 the amount of the passenger car traffic of Niirala exceeded 450,000 vehicles. Niirala is the third busiest border station of the east border. The share of the Russian vehicles of the person traffic grew 17 per cent units between the years 1998 and 1999. In the year 1999 it was already 37 per cent. The importance of the bus traffic has in Niirala been minor. The passenger traffic of the Niirala border station is mainly weekly repeating shopping and business traffic between the neighbouring regions. The volume of the passenger traffic in Savo-Karelia is biggest on the main connecting road between Tohmajärvi and in the Niirala border station. A good one - third of the traffic remains in the nearby municipalities of the border station. To the direction of Joensuu aims about 40 per cent. The drivers interviewed have generally been satisfied with the service level of the Road Administration at the Niirala border station. For the border station in the first place information services concerning the traffic situation and more information about the countries in the Finnish and Russian languages were desired. The greatest part of the drivers were satisfied also with the road conditions and the services of the Road Administration on the side of Finland. Of the problems presented by the Finnish drivers the poor winter maintenance concerning a part of the lower road network and the bad condition of the part of the roads in the regions close to the border were emphasized. The Russian drivers hoped for more information and instructions along the roads as well as information of the traffic rules and the acting in the traffic in the Russian language.

The amount of the truck traffic on the Niirala border station was in the year 1998 nearly five times bigger compared with the year 1993. In the year 1999 the traffic grew further in Niirala and on the temporary border crossing spots altogether by 6 per cent compares with the previous year. The transports were to their main part acquisition transports of raw wood from Russia, when the vehicles drive as empty to Russian to haul a load. Out of the import taking place through the Niirala border station one-third comes from the Värtsilä of Russia. The following most important areas of origin are the direction of Petrozavodsk (Fi. Petroskoi) and Sortavala. The destination areas of import are mainly located in Savo-Karelia and in the Southeast-Finland. In the export the most important areas of origin are the Southeast-Finland, the Helsinki region and the Turku region. The transports are directed to St. Petersburg, Värtsilä of Russian and Petrozavodsk. The truck traffic as well in the import as the export is concentrated on the trunk highway 6 leading to the south.

The share of the train transports at the Niirala border station in the year 1998 was 76 per cent and the transports by commercial vehicles 24 per cent. The share of the truck transports has grown in the last years. In the import transports of raw wood the truck transport is a competitive alternative, when the volumes to be transported are small, the transport distance is short, the acquisition areas of the wood are dispersedly located or the infrastructure required by the railroad transport are lacking.

The international transports of the industrial companies interviewed were in the year 1998 altogether over 1,8 million tons, where of import was about 0,7 and export about 1,2 million tons. The most applied mode of transportation was in import transport the road transport and in export the rail transport. As a whole the railway transport was the most used. The most important port for import was Helsinki and the most important ports for export Kotka, Helsinki and Hamina. The companies considered the international road transports to grow until the year 2005 by 13 per cent. Evenly divided this means an annual growth of 2 per cent. The endeavour to continous flows of goods and low stocks are increasing the amount of truck transports, because the consignments to be dispatched are getting smaller.

According to the basic scenario the truck traffic of the Niirala border station will not until the year 2030. According to the growth scenario it will be doubled. The growth of the private car traffic in Niirala were in the probability scenario about 30 per cent. In case the probability scenarios are realized they cause needs for additional measures to be taken particularly taking the person traffic into account. The measures to be taken should be emphasized on the services of the traffic and particularly in information services. The scenario of the person traffic is forecasting, that the share of the Russian passengers will grow most, so the need for the information services on the Russian language will grow. The traffic in accordance with the scenario does not cause investment needs for whole sequences of roads, but in the first place taking spotlike measures of traffic security and creating service areas for the users of the roads. The scenario is based on the scenario of the entire traffic between Finland and Russia and it does not take into account all the factors having influence on the development on the traffic of an individual border station.

To the amount and the direction of the east bound traffic affect the improvement projects on the condition of the road network in Russia, the taxation policy of Russia and Finland, the congestion of the border stations in Southeast-Finland, as well as the development of the economic, social and political situation in Russia.