Country Norway County Finnmark Municipality Sør-Varanger | Region Northern Norway District Øst-Finnmark Elevation 20 m (70 ft) | |
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Elvenes is a village in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located at the mouth of the river Pasvikelva where it flows into the Bøkfjorden, a southern branch of the Varangerfjorden. The village lies about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of the village of Hesseng, along the European route E105. The town of Kirkenes lies about a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) drive to the northwest.
Contents
Map of 9900 Elvenes, Norway
History
During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany a camp for Soviet prisoners-of-war was located in Elvenes, and in 1942 about six hundred Norwegian teachers were sent to Elvenes for slave labour.
Road bypass
As part of an NOK 875 million programme of improvements to European Route E105, work started in 2014 on a bypass to the north of the village comprising a new 284-metre bridge over the Bøkfjorden and a 690-metre tunnel through the adjacent Trifonhøgda mountain. The bridge has a 500-tonne steel central arch span of 120 metres, which was constructed in Wilhelmshaven, Germany and will be transported by barge along the entire west and north coast of Norway into the fjord. The section of road between Elvenes and the Russian border at Storskog was constructed in 2013, while the bridge and tunnel are expected to open by September 2017.