The E12 Corridor - opportunities for East-West collaboration

Umea welcomes the Strategy for the BSR and expects it to play an important role in the future development of the region. It is vital that the conditions and prerequisites for the whole geography of the BSR are covered in the strategy. One of the main challenges in the region is underdeveloped infrastructure. At the same time, transport in the region is expected to increase the coming decade. One important priority for making the whole region more accessible and attractive is to link current north-south connections with transport corridors from east to west. The E12 transport corridor runs from the Atlantic Ocean in the west through Sweden and Finland all the way to prosperous areas in Russia. This is a good example of an east-west transport corridor that can relieve pressure from the southern transport bottlenecks of the region. However, the E12 corridor is dependent on an efficient ferry connection between UmeaandVaasain Finland.Thedis-tance between the two cities is only 70 kilometres.The route is the hub of the regional transport network and must function if regional cross-border cooperation is to be maintained. In addition, the ferry route is an absolutely necessary constituent of the E12 transport corridor from System which has the purpose to transport corridortoa European transport route, and to draw up a vision which will enable regional and cross-border development. We expect the project result to be a high-quality contribution to the BSR strategy!

The ultimate vision is a bridge or a tunnel crossing the Kvarken strait between Umea and Vaasa. Building a bridge or tunnel would be our region's contribution to meet up with expanding markets and increasing transport pressure on the Baltic Sea. A bridge would result in the development of the region. INTERREG is a useful tool for cooperation and for implementing the strategy. Umea participates in the Botnia Atlantica project Kvarken Shortcut promote the development of the E12.