| Finnish national road 5 | |
|---|---|
| Valtatie 5, Riksväg 5 | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by the Finnish road Administration | |
| Length: | 907 km (564 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| From: | Lusi, Heinola |
| To: | Sodankylä |
| Location | |
| Major cities: | Mikkeli, Kuopio, Kajaani, Kuusamo, Kemijärvi |
| Highway system | |
The Finnish National road 5 (Finnish:Valtatie 5 or Vitostie, Swedish:Riksväg 5) is a main route between Heinola and Sodankylä. The road runs from Heinola`s Lusi to Sodankylä and it is 907 kilometres long.[1] National road 5`s condition is not the best one in Finland and thats why It has a lots of construction areas in nowadays. National road 5 goes at the same line with E63 between Kuopio`s Vehmasmäki and Sodankylä.
The first part of the road between Lusi and Mikkeli was rebuilt in 1990`s and 2000`s to give a straight and good condition road. There is one short length of 2+2 laned road at Mikkeli, but the part between Mikkeli and Joroinen needs updating because it does not meet modern requirements. Next part between Joroinen and Varkaus has been constructed to the highclassed National road and there is a 9 kilometer long bypass at Varkaus, and also the next part of the road between Joroinen and Leppävirta has a good condition which has many bypasses, but the part from Leppävirta to Kuopio´s Humaljoki has not a good condition. When National road 5 arrives to Humaljoki, It changes to the motorway what goes with the exception of Kuopio`s Kallansillat to the Siilinjärvi. Kallansillat are the drawbridges which has been opened many times at the timeline of one year, especially in summer the opening of the bridges is very freguent, because the statistics say It have to open about 300-400 times in every summer and thats why there has been started to build the new bridge near the old one in 2010. When the road passes Siilinjärvi, It changes back to the normal two laned road, next part between Siilinjärvi and Iisalmi is like the normal National road which condition changes randomly and It runs near Savonrata railway the whole line to Iisalmi, at the southern parts of Iisalmi`s citys area It changes to the bypass and passes Iisalmi`s downtown by bypass from Its eastern side, when the road has been passed Iisalmi, It changes again back to the two laned road and at the same time the traffic volume gets smaller and by that at the next part from Iisalmi to Kajaani, the National road has almost same traffic volume and same condition also at the part from Kajaani to Kemijärvi, but after Kemijärvi the roads condition is not the same like in Its southern parts, because It has been changed to the National road by changing the number signs, the road Itself hasnt been technically constructed.
The road goes at the communeareas of the next places: Heinola - Pertunmaa - Mäntyharju - Hirvensalmi - Mikkeli - Juva - Joroinen - Varkaus - Leppävirta - Kuopio - Siilinjärvi - Lapinlahti - Iisalmi - Sonkajärvi - Kajaani - Paltamo - Ristijärvi - Hyrynsalmi - Suomussalmi - Taivalkoski - Kuusamo - Posio - Salla - Kemijärvi - Pelkosenniemi - Sodankylä