Return traffic of Nordic Response to cause congestion on highways

As the battles fought in Nordic Response 24 will be ended this week, the return marches of the exercise will be visible on the road, said Finnish Defence Forces in a press release on Tuesday.

The exercise will end on 15 March. From Finland, the exercise has been participated by altogether 4,100 soldiers and up to more than 700 vehicles

In the area of Finland during the exercise, alongside Finnish troops have trained and operated altogether up to 3,000 soldiers from Sweden, 450 soldiers from France, and 50 soldiers from the U.K.

Apart from the routes of return march as listed below, the returning training audience units may be on the move also in other areas of Lapland.

The overall traffic may get congested, especially from Wednesday to Friday on the main road network.

People are urged to consider the issue when doing their route planning and prepare to reserve more time for driving than usually.

Authorities in Finland, Norway, and Sweden have co-operated before and during the exercise to smoothen overall traffic and minimise the impacts of the exercise.

The return traffic from the exercise will continue on Road 93 Kivilompolo–Palojoensuu, Road 21 Enontekiö–Kolari, Road79 Muonio–Rovaniemi, Road80 Kittilä–Sodankylä, Road 92 Karigasniemi–Kaamanen, Road E75 Kaamanen–Rovaniemi–Oulu, Roads from Rovaniemi to Kajaani, Road E8 southward from Oulu until Sunday.

More than half of the return traffic will concentrate on E75, with the main focus on the road sections of Karigasniemi–Inari–Saariselkä.

During 13–15 March, special transports carrying wide loads will be on the move on the routes of Enontekiö–Muonio–Kittilä–Sodankylä.

During the exercise, the troops of the Finnish Defence Forces and of allies have operated on both state-owned and privately-owned real estate property as planned.

In the area, training and exercise activity has been conducted by heavy equipment, including main battle tanks Leopard 2, and infantry fighting vehicles CV90. The training audience troops have done their very best to avoid any damage to the terrain.

The Defence Forces train and exercise responsibly, and will repay through a case-by-case examination damages incurred due to training and exercise activity.

All issues of claims for damages will be processed with the parties involved after the end of exercise in accordance with established practice.