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This article provides an overview of the transport infrastructure of Latvia.
Road system
thumb|[[A10 road (Latvia)|A10 near Rīga|280px]]
thumb|[[A7 road (Latvia)|A7 near Iecava|280px]]
thumb|[[A9 road (Latvia)|A9 near Skrunda|280px]]
It is mandatory to keep headlights on while driving, even in daylight; most cars commercially sold in Latvia are equipped to make this automatic.
Highways
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Number
! E-road
! class="unsortable" | Route
! Length (km)
|-
| 35px A1
|
| Rīga - Ainaži <small>(EE border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|101
|-
| 35px A2
|
| Rīga - Sigulda - Veclaicene <small>(EE border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|196
|-
| 35px A3
|
| Inčukalns - Valmiera - Valka <small>(EE border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|101
|-
| 35px A4
|
| Rīga ring road (Baltezers - Saulkalne)
| style="text-align:center;"|20
|-
| 35px A5
|
| Rīga ring road (Salaspils - Babīte)
| style="text-align:center;"|40
|-
| 35px A6
|
| Rīga - Daugavpils - Krāslava - Pāternieki <small>(BY border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|307
|-
| 35px A7
|
| Rīga - Bauska - Grenctāle <small>(LT border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|85
|-
| 35px A8
|
| Rīga - Jelgava - Meitene <small>(LT border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|76
|-
| 35px A9
|
| Rīga - Skulte - Liepāja
| style="text-align:center;"|199
|-
| 35px A10
|
| Rīga - Ventspils
| style="text-align:center;"|190
|-
| 35px A11
|
| Liepāja - Rucava <small>(LT border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|57
|-
| 35px A12
|
| Jēkabpils - Rēzekne - Ludza - Terehova <small>(RU border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|166
|-
| 35px A13
|
| Grebņeva <small>(RU border)</small> - Rēzekne - Daugavpils - Medumi <small>(LT border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|163
|-
| 35px A14
|
| Daugavpils ring road (Tilti - Kalkūne)
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
| 35px A15
|
| Rēzekne ring road
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|}
Length of the road system
{| class="wikitable" width=60%
|- bgcolor="#efefef" align=left
!Roads
!Paved, km
!Unpaved, km
!Total, km
|-
|-
!State-owned roads
!
!
!
|-
|Highways (A)
|1651.1
| -
|1651.1
|-
|Regional roads (P)
|4189.9
|1127.5
|5317.4
|-
|Local roads (V)
|2616.7
|10533.4
|13150.1
|-
|-
!Municipality-owned roads
!
!
!
|-
|Roads
|1055.6
|29593.5
|30649.1
|-
|Streets
|4588.2
|3446.4
|8034.6
|-
|-
!Other roads
!
!
!
|-
|Forest roads
| -
|10142
|10142
|-
|Private house roads
|500
|3000
|3500
|-
|-
|-
!Total
!14601.5
!57842.8
!72444.3
|}
Railways
thumb|right|280px|[[Jelgava railway station ]]
thumb|right|280px|One of [[Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca|RVR ER2T trainsets operated by Pasažieru Vilciens ]]
Latvian Railways is the main state-owned railway company in Latvia. It's daughter companies both carry out passengers services as well as carry a large quantity of freight cargo, and freight trains operate over the whole current passenger network, and a number of lines currently closed to passenger services.
There is also a narrow-gauge railway between Gulbene and Aluksne, operated by the Industrial Heritage Trust, using Russian and Polish built heritage rolling stock. Three narrow gauge trains a day operate on the 33 km route between the two towns.
<br>total:
2,347 km
<br>Russian gauge:
2,314 km gauge (270 km electrified)
<br>narrow gauge:
33 km gauge (2002)
Passenger rail
Vivi is the only passenger-carrying operator in Latvia.
Domestic passenger lines with current service are:
- Torņakalns – Tukums II Railway
- Riga – Jelgava Railway
- Jelgava – Liepāja Railway
- Riga – Daugavpils Railway
- Krustpils – Rēzekne – Zilupe (border of Russia)
- Rīga – Sigulda – Cēsis – Valmiera – Valga (border of Estonia)
- Zemitāni – Skulte Railway
- Pļaviņas – Gulbene
Rail links with adjacent countries
- Russia - yes
- Lithuania - yes
- Belarus - yes
- Estonia - yes
Airports
thumb|280px|[[airBaltic Boeing 757−200WL take-off at Riga International Airport ]]
Riga International Airport is the only major airport in Latvia, carrying around 5 million passengers annually. It is the largest airport in the Baltic states and has direct flights to over 80 destinations in 30 countries. It is also the main hub of airBaltic.
In the recent years airBaltic also operated from Liepāja International Airport as well as Ventspils International Airport but operations in both of these airports were ceased until 2017, when airBaltic relaunched flights from Riga to Liepaja.
Currently there are plans for further development in several regional airports, including Jūrmala Airport, Liepāja, Ventspils as well as Daugavpils International Airport.
Airfields
As of 2003, there were a total of 51 airfields in Latvia, with 27 of them having paved runways.
Airports - with paved runways
total:
27
<br>2,438 to 3,047 m:
7
<br>1,524 to 2,437 m:
2
<br>914 to 1,523 m:
2
<br>under 914 m:
16 (2003)
Airports - with unpaved runways
total:
24
<br>2,438 to 3,047 m:
1
<br>1,523 to 2,438 m:
2
<br>914 to 1,523 m:
1
<br>under 914 m:
20 (2003)
Ports and harbors
thumb|280px|[[Free port of Ventspils|Port of Ventspils is the busiest port in the Baltic states]]
right|thumb|280px|[[Riga Passenger Terminal ]]
Key ports are located in Riga (Freeport of Riga and Riga Passenger Terminal), Ventspils (Free port of Ventspils), and Liepāja (Port of Liepāja). Most transit traffic uses these and half the cargo is crude oil and oil products.
Waterways
300 km (perennially navigable)
Pipelines
Crude oil 412 km; refined products 421 km; natural gas 1,097 km (2003)
Merchant marine
<br>Total:
11 ships (with a volume of or over) totaling /
<br>note:
includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Germany 1, Greece 1, Ukraine 1 (2002 est.)
<br>ships by type:
cargo ship 6, petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated cargo 2, roll-on/roll-off ship 1, short-sea/passenger 1
References
External links
- History of railroad construction in Latvia
- Ministry of Transport of Republic of Latvia
- Transport in Latvia