From St. Petersburg to the border of Russia with Finland, only 140 kilometers. Therefore, residents of the Northern capital and the Leningrad region often visit the Finns. In the Leningrad region there are three checkpoints for crossing the land border with the Republic of Finland. These are "Torfyanovka", "Cowberry" and "Svetogorsk". You can get to them along the federal road A-181 "Scandinavia".
According to the European classification, this road is called E-18, after the border it can be seen on the signs from the Finnish side. Previously, it was sometimes called M-10, although in fact it is just a continuation of the federal road with the same designation. The fork at the checkpoints is located near Vyborg. To the south, to "Torfyanovka" and further on, the European highway E-18 goes to Helsinki. Directly, along the Saimaa Canal, to the Brusnichnoye checkpoint. To the north, along the Svetogorsk highway, to the Svetogorsk point.
Torfyanovka
There are two ways from Vyborg - to the south, tomultilateral automobile checkpoint MAPP "Torfyanovka". Through the city, a little shorter, or a detour, but faster. On the Finnish side, Torfyanovka is called Vaalimaa.
It is believed that this is the largest road checkpoint in this country. In addition, this is a direct direction to Helsinki. The declared throughput is more than 2 million cars per year. Although there are congestion and problems on it. In 2006, a case was recorded when a 40-kilometer convoy of trucks accumulated at the checkpoint. Through this crossing go to Helsinki, Kotka, Turku or Hamina. The transition operates around the clock and seven days a week. Cyclists can pass through it. Pedestrian crossing prohibited.
Cowberry
The second way is almost straight - in the direction of the Brusnichnoye checkpoint. On the Finnish side, this border crossing is called Nuijamaa. Until 2001, the border checkpoint was in the village of Brusnichnoye, 25 km from the border.
Now the checkpoint has been moved directly to the border, but the name has been preserved. The road to Brusnichnoye leads along the Saimaa Canal. The highway crosses it through locks in several places. It is best to go on it in the summer when navigation. The Saimaa Canal itself is a grandiose and very picturesque structure. But you can get even more impressions if you watch how tourist ships and yachts pass through the locks.
The huge Lake Saimaa, a natural waterway in eastern Finland, had no outlet to the B altic. The channel was built fortransportation of goods from this country to the B altic Sea. The first navigation took place in 1856. The channel is extremely beautiful.
In tsarist times, there were up to 27 cruises of pleasure craft along the canal from Vyborg to Lappeenranta. After the revolution, due to the cooling of relations between Soviet Russia and the Republic of Finland, the cargo turnover through the canal decreased, and the flow of tourists practically dried up. Through this crossing, people usually go to Lappeenranta, Kouvola, Lahti, Tampere or Mikkeli. The crossing point is open around the clock for all modes of transport, pedestrian crossing is prohibited.
In "Brusnichny" they cross not only the land border with Finland, but also the water one. There is a water checkpoint at the Pyalli lock of the Saimaa Canal.
Svetogorsk
To drive through the third checkpoint of the Leningrad region - "Svetogorsk", you need to turn north from Vyborg, onto the Svetogorskoye highway and after 50 km there will be a checkpoint.
Since 2017, this Svetogorsk highway has become a federal road. On the Finnish side, this crossing point is called Imatra. Svetogorsk is located 6 km from the Finnish city of the same name. The crossing point is open 24/7. Pedestrian crossing prohibited.
Choice near Vyborg
The road to Vyborg is not difficult. Although it is not wide in places, there are no settlements and traffic lights on it. If there is no traffic jam on the road due to an accident or repair work, then the travel time is quite easy to calculate. Traffic can be heavy, but a wide shoulder allows faster traffic to pass. Although this is notwelcomes the traffic police, as indicated by the signs on the road. However, this has already developed into a certain Scandinavian ethic, as well as blinking an emergency flasher as a token of gratitude to the driver who has given way.
Difficulty starts near the city, "choice starts near Vyborg". It happens that there are so many cars at the checkpoint that the queue to cross the border with Finland can take several hours. It should be noted that any border crossing consists of two stages: Russian and Finnish. Queues can be on each of them, both separately and together.
If there is a specific direction and business, then they choose the transition that is more convenient, but there are options when it is easier to drive 50 extra kilometers and it will be faster.
Webcams in Finland
To make such a decision, reliable information is needed that there is a smaller queue at the neighboring checkpoint. For the convenience of tourists and transport companies, from March 1, 2011, the border service of the South-Eastern region of the neighboring state, together with the customs service, installed webcams. On the border with Finland, you can now find out how things are at other checkpoints. Data is provided on the official portal.
Cameras on the border with Finland installed at all border crossings from it to the Leningrad region. Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa and Imatra.
In addition to the website hosted by the Center for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Southeast Finland, there are several other online resources thatprovide access to webcams at the border with Finland.
The site has a map of incidents, road works, weather conditions, links to webcams of Finnish roads. Including several video devices of all crossing points from the Finnish side to entry and exit.
Images change at about 5 minute intervals. Air temperature, roads, road surface condition, wind speed are indicated next to the photo. In winter, the operation of the cameras is unstable, as there are warnings on the website.
The resource is useful for further movement in Finland, it contains up-to-date and reliable information about road conditions, repair work, restrictions on sections, congestion and traffic accidents.
Webcams in Russia
A similar decision to install cameras on the border with Finland was made by the North-Western Customs Department of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. On the website of the Office you can find links to their Internet resources.
In text form, information is provided on the average waiting time at Russian checkpoints in both directions: from Russia to Finland and back. Data provided for cars, trucks and buses.
There is a version for mobile devices. In text form, information is provided on the average waiting time at Russian checkpoints in both directions. Data is several minutes late, sometimes hours.
It's inconvenient that there is no time in the photosshooting. There is a warning on the site that images are updated with an hour delay.
Webcams work on the border with Finland only for leaving Russia. The advantage of the site is that you can get information in text mode. The site also has statistics pages that can be used to predict the number of cars in the queue by day of the week, time, direction of movement (from Russia to Finland and vice versa).
Queues
The source of data about the state of the queues for the site are messages from users already standing in them.
The resource contains links to webcams. From the Russian side - "Torfyanovka" and "Svetogorsk". The camera on the border with Finland "Cowberry" is not represented at all. From Finland - Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra. All links open cameras on the border with Finland from the Finnish side from the site of the traffic authority of this country.
Statistics
Since only cameras on the border from Finland work reliably, they can only predict the departure from Finland to Russia. But for entry, it is better to use statistical data: activity at all crossing points starts at 9 am, subsides after 1 pm. The reverse flow reaches a maximum at about 18:00 and lasts up to 20:00. During the week, the flow is even and begins to increase towards the weekend, reaching a peak on Saturday.
And, of course, on New Year's holidays, Christmas sales and during mass trips in May and November, statistics are notworks.
