View source for Transport in Latvia

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}
This article provides an overview of the transport infrastructure of [[Latvia]].

== Road system ==
[[File:A10Latvia.jpg|thumb|[[A10 road (Latvia)|A10]] near [[Rīga]]|280px]]
[[File:Дорога Рига - Бауска Road Riga - Bauska.jpg|thumb|[[A7 road (Latvia)|A7]] near [[Iecava]]|280px]]
[[File:A9-Latvia.jpg|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 ===
{{see also|List of National Roads in Latvia}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Number
! [[International E-road network|E-road]]
! class="unsortable" | Route
! Length (km)
|-
| [[File:A1-LV.svg|35px]] [[A1 road (Latvia)|A1]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|67}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Ainaži]] <small>([[Estonia|EE]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|101
|-
| [[File:A2-LV.svg|35px]] [[A2 road (Latvia)|A2]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|77}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Sigulda]] - [[Veclaicene]] <small>([[Estonia|EE]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|196
|-
| [[File:A3-LV.svg|35px]] [[A3 road (Latvia)|A3]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|264}}
| [[Inčukalns]] - [[Valmiera]] - [[Valka]] <small>([[Estonia|EE]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|101
|-
| [[File:A4-LV.svg|35px]] [[A4 road (Latvia)|A4]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|67}} {{jct|country=EUR|E|77}}
| [[Rīga]] ring road ([[Baltezers, Ādaži Municipality|Baltezers]] - [[Saulkalne]])
| style="text-align:center;"|20
|-
| [[File:A5-LV.svg|35px]] [[A5 road (Latvia)|A5]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|67}} {{jct|country=EUR|E|77}}
| [[Rīga]] ring road ([[Salaspils]] - [[Babīte]])
| style="text-align:center;"|40
|-
| [[File:A6-LV.svg|35px]] [[A6 road (Latvia)|A6]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|22}} {{jct|country=EUR|E|262}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Daugavpils]] - [[Krāslava]] - [[Pāternieki]] <small>([[Belarus|BY]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|307
|-
| [[File:A7-LV.svg|35px]] [[A7 road (Latvia)|A7]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|67}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Bauska]] - [[Grenctāle]] <small>([[Lithuania|LT]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|85
|-
| [[File:A8-LV.svg|35px]] [[A8 road (Latvia)|A8]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|77}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Jelgava]] - [[Meitene]] <small>([[Lithuania|LT]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|76
|-
| [[File:A9-LV.svg|35px]] [[A9 road (Latvia)|A9]]
| 
| [[Rīga]] - [[Skulte]] - [[Liepāja]]
| style="text-align:center;"|199
|-
| [[File:A10-LV.svg|35px]] [[A10 road (Latvia)|A10]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|22}}
| [[Rīga]] - [[Ventspils]]
| style="text-align:center;"|190
|-
| [[File:A11-LV.svg|35px]] [[A11 road (Latvia)|A11]]
| 
| [[Liepāja]] - [[Rucava]] <small>([[Lithuania|LT]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|57
|-
| [[File:A12-LV.svg|35px]] [[A12 road (Latvia)|A12]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|22}} {{jct|country=EUR|E|262}}
| [[Jēkabpils]] - [[Rēzekne]] - [[Ludza]] - [[Terehova, Latvia|Terehova]] <small>([[Russia|RU]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|166
|-
| [[File:A13-LV.svg|35px]] [[A13 road (Latvia)|A13]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|262}}
| [[Grebņeva]] <small>([[Russia|RU]] border)</small> - [[Rēzekne]] - [[Daugavpils]] - [[Medumi]] <small>([[Lithuania|LT]] border)</small>
| style="text-align:center;"|163
|-
| [[File:A14-LV.svg|35px]] [[A14 road (Latvia)|A14]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|262}}
| [[Daugavpils]] ring road ([[Tilti]] - [[Kalkūne]])
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
| [[File:A15-LV.svg|35px]] [[A15 road (Latvia)|A15]]
| {{jct|country=EUR|E|262}}
| [[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 ==

[[File:Jelgava railway station.jpg|thumb|right|280px|[[Jelgava railway station]] ]]
[[File:ER2T-7113 Lielupes stacijā 2.JPG|thumb|right|280px|One of [[Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca|RVR]] [[ER2 electric trainset|ER2T]] trainsets operated by [[Pasažieru Vilciens]] ]]
{{main|Rail transport in Latvia}} {{see also|Latvijas dzelzceļš}}
[[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&nbsp;km route between the two towns.

<br>''total:''
2,347&nbsp;km 
<br>''[[Russian gauge]]:''
2,314&nbsp;km {{RailGauge|1520mm}} gauge (270&nbsp;km electrified) 
<br>''[[narrow-gauge railways|narrow gauge]]:''
33&nbsp;km {{RailGauge|750mm}} gauge (2002)

=== Passenger rail ===
{{main|Vivi (rail transit)}}

''[[Vivi (rail transit)|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, Estonia|Valga]] (border of Estonia)
* [[Zemitāni – Skulte Railway]]
* [[Pļaviņas]] – [[Gulbene]]

=== Rail links with adjacent countries ===

* [[Transportation in Russia|Russia]] - yes
* [[Transportation in Lithuania|Lithuania]] - yes
* [[Transportation in Belarus|Belarus]] - yes
* [[Transportation in Estonia|Estonia]] - yes

== Airports ==
{{main|List of airports in Latvia}}
[[File:AirBaltic Boeing 757-200 at RIX.jpg|thumb|280px|[[airBaltic]] [[Boeing 757|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 state]]s 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 ==
[[File:Ventspils osta.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Free port of Ventspils|Port of Ventspils]] is the busiest port in the [[Baltic states]]]]
[[File:Cruceros en el muelle de Riga, Letonia, 2012-08-07, DD 01.JPG|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.<ref name="wpt">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080908042001/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/EXTECAREGTOPTRANSPORT/0,,contentMDK:20647605~pagePK:34004173~piPK:34003707~theSitePK:571121,00.html Latvia], World Bank</ref>

== Waterways ==
300&nbsp;km (perennially navigable)

== Pipelines ==
[[Crude oil]] 412&nbsp;km; refined products 421&nbsp;km; [[natural gas]] 1,097&nbsp;km (2003)

== Merchant marine ==
<br>''Total:''
11 ships (with a volume of {{GT|1,000|disp=long}} or over) totaling {{GT|53,153}}/{{DWT|37,414|metric|disp=long}} 
<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==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r096.html History of railroad construction in Latvia]
* [http://www.sam.gov.lv/satmin/content/?lng=en&cat=134 Ministry of Transport of Republic of Latvia]
* [http://www.transport.lv/ Transport in Latvia]

{{Latvia topics}}
{{Transportation in Europe}}
{{Motorways in Europe}}
[[Category:Transport in Latvia| ]]