European route E69 is an E-road between Olderfjord and North Cape in northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The road is long. It contains five tunnels, totalling . The longest, the North Cape Tunnel, is long and reaches below sea level. During the winter months is the northernmost part of the road (Skarsvåg-North Cape) available only to convoys, driving at fixed times, if weather permits. E69 is the northernmost road in the world with connections to a major international road network. Roads further north in locations including Svalbard and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

are isolated and short.

History

In the first version of the current E-road network established in 1975, E69 was a longer and completely different road from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land Distr ...

through Piotrków, Katowice,

Český Těšín Český Těšín (; pl, Czeski Cieszyn ; german: Tschechisch-Teschen) is a town in the Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Český Těšín lies on the west bank of the Olza ...

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest muni ...

, Piešťany and Bratislava. This route is now mostly part of E75, and that time, the E75 went through

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and Banská Bystrica, which is now part of E77. It was later modified south from

Mattersburg Mattersburg (; formerly ''Mattersdorf'', hu, Nagymarton, Croatian: ''Matrštof'') is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and was home to former Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg. ...

. Instead of Wiener Neustadt, it went further to south touching

Oberpullendorf Oberpullendorf (; hr, Gornja Pulja or ; hu, Felsőpulya) is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district of Oberpullendorf. Geography Oberpullendorf is a municipality in the middle of the Burgenland. It con ...

and Oberwart following the Austrian route 50, ending in E66. This version was never signposted along roads, instead a modified version was implemented with E75 on this route. In the old version E-road network established in 1950, E69 went between

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

and

Dombås is a village or small town in Dovre Municipality in northern Innlandet county, Norway. The village serves as the commercial centre for the upper Gudbrandsdalen valley. It lies at an important junction of roads with the European route E6 highway ...

in Norway, now E136. The Norwegian E69 was planned in the 1930s, particularly after a public meeting in

Honningsvåg , other_name = , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = Honningsvåg-01.jpg , image_caption = View of the city , pushpin_map = Finnmark#Nor ...

in 1934, as a means of drawing tourism to offset the loss of lucrative fishing rights. A ferry line was set up between Russenes near Olderfjord and Honningsvåg, a distance of around . The road between Honningsvåg and North Cape was opened in 1956. In 1968 the road was extended to a new ferry site at Kåfjord, and the ferry to Honningsvåg was shortened to . E69 was given its current route number in 1992. Before that, the road was number 95 in Norway. Since then, it has no distinct national number. The North Cape Tunnel and the Honningsvåg Tunnel were opened in 1999, thereby eliminating the ferry. From then to 29 June 2012, the North Cape Tunnel and adjacent tunnels were tolled. The near the southern end of E69 opened in 1968 and is a bottleneck. It is partly only wide, so wide vehicles cannot use it at the same time in opposite directions, and there is rockslide danger in the area. Therefore, a new tunnel is to be built in 2018–2021, which also will shorten the route by 2 km.

References

External links

UN Economic Commission for Europe: Overall Map of E-road Network (2007)
69 E069 E069 Roads within the Arctic Circle {{Norway-road-stub