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BORDER TROUBLES * Findland / Russia - Finns Fume as Exhaust-Spewing Trucks Jam Border Roads to Russia
Lappeenranta,Finland -Bloomberg, by Kati Pohjanpalo -Nov. 27, 2008: -- Marjatta Oksanen recalls how fresh the leaves used to smell when she strolled through her forest in southeastern Finland, along the Russian border... Now, the aroma around Oksanen’s cottage and surrounding woodland is more like that of a loading dock as thousands of Russia-bound trucks line up on a nearby road with their motors idling... In the forests her father loved, Oksanen’s wild blueberry patches are now covered with stacks of tires left by Russian truckers. Food wrappers and cigarette butts litter the roadsides. As truck traffic on the icy and narrow highways increases, so does the chance of accidents... “The roads of southern Finland are a giant storage area,” said Tommi Kivilaakso, who heads the customs office in the city of Lappeenranta, near the second-busiest crossing. “Few countries plan their road networks to be used as parking lots for neighboring countries”... The Finnish government is considering building a parking lot at the Vaalimaa-Torfyanovka crossing that would hold 1,000 trucks. Currently, the lots there hold only 160 trucks. The project, spanning 65 hectares and estimated to cost 24 million euros, is on hold pending planning approvals... Labels: border troubles
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