Kvarken Bridge ( fi, Merenkurkun silta, sv, Kvarkenbron) is a proposed bridge between

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

across the strait of

Kvarken Kvarken ( sv, Kvarken, Norra Kvarken (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Swedish mainland to the Finn ...

as a part of the

European route E12 European route E12 is a road that is part of the International E-road network. It begins in Mo i Rana, Norway, transverses Sweden and ends in Helsinki, Finland, with a ferry line between Sweden and Finland. The part within Finland is Finnish n ...

. The cost of the bridge has been estimated to about 1.5 to 2 billion

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s. There are islands in the strait, and the sum of the lengths of the probably three bridge parts would be about . The Swedish minister of finance has said it is an interesting idea, but the idea is still decades from being brought to fruition. There is a debate in the coastal cities on both sides, like

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Ume� ...

in Sweden and

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

in Finland. The official view from the Swedish and Finnish governments is that it is far too expensive. The natural values in the area also makes a bridge doubtful. A part of the area is a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. The working group for the bridge has proposed a three-step programme: # To ensure that there is a ferry connection across the Kvarken. The current connection operated by

RG Line RG Line Oy Ab was a Finnish shipping company founded in 2001 that operated a ferry line between Vaasa, Finland and Umeå, Sweden until the end of 2012. Nowadays the Vaasa-Umeå line is operated by Wasa Line. The company was founded in 2001 by ...

is unprofitable. # To build a ferry harbour on

Replot Replot ( fi, Raippaluoto) is an island in the Kvarken ("The Throat"), the narrowest part of the Gulf of Bothnia in the northern part of the Baltic sea. It has about 2,100 inhabitants, almost only Swedish-speaking. The size is about , one of the lar ...

Korsholm Korsholm (; fi, Mustasaari) is a municipality of Finland. The town of Vaasa was founded in Korsholm parish in 1606 and today the municipality completely surrounds the city. It is a coastal, mostly rural municipality, consisting of a rural landscap ...

, to shorten the current travel time of 6 hours to about 5. # To build a bridge across the Kvarken. The Swedish Västerbotten business owners' association intends to commission a report into the significance of a bridge for the development of the region.

References

Bridges in Finland Bridges in Sweden Proposed bridges in Europe Proposed transport infrastructure Connections across the Baltic Sea {{Sweden-bridge-struct-stub