European route E63 in the context of Kemijärvi

In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using a system of interconnecting roadways to permit traffic on at least one of the routes to pass through the junction without interruption from crossing traffic streams. It differs from a standard intersection, where roads cross at grade. Interchanges are almost always used when at least one road is a controlled-access highway (freeway) or a limited-access highway (expressway), though they are sometimes used at junctions between surface streets.

A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or a translation for motorway, Autobahn, autostrada, autoroute, etc.

According to Merriam-Webster, the use of the term predates the 12th century. According to Etymonline, "high" is in the sense of "main".

Sodankylä (Finnish: [ˈsodɑŋˌkylæ]; Northern Sami: Soađegilli [ˈso̯ɑðeˌkilːiː]; Inari Sami: Suáđigil; Skolt Sami: Suäʹđjel) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 (E63) and along Highway 4 (E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring municipalities are Inari, Kemijärvi, Kittilä, Pelkosenniemi, Rovaniemi, and Savukoski. The municipality has two official languages: Finnish and Northern Sami.

The municipality has a population of 8,067, (30 June 2025) which makes it the fourth largest municipality in Lapland after Rovaniemi, Tornio and Kemi, and at the same time the largest municipality in population that does not use the title of city or town. It covers an area of 12,415.50 square kilometres (4,793.65 sq mi) of which 718.65 km (277.47 sq mi) is water, making it the second largest municipality in Finland in terms of area, right after its neighboring municipality of Inari. The population density is 0.69 inhabitants per square kilometre (1.8/sq mi).

The Tampere Ring Road (Finnish: Tampereen kehätie) or former Finnish National Road 60 (Finnish: Kantatie 60) is a ring road in the Tampere metropolitan area, Finland. It runs (from west to east) from Ylöjärvi to Tampere, passing through Nokia and Pirkkala. Its western part is part of Highway 3 (between Helsinki and Vaasa), while its eastern part is part of Highway 9 (between Turku and Tohmajärvi).

The ring road has been a motorway along its entire length since 2009. The main section of the ring road is used by more than 50,000 vehicles per day. According to the ELY Centre of Pirkanmaa, the western part of the ring road is the busiest road in Finland, excluding the motorway and ring road connections in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The Finnish national road 9 (Finnish: Valtatie 9, Swedish: Riksväg 9) is a main route. It runs from Turku through Loimaa, Tampere, Jämsä, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Outokumpu and Joensuu to the Niirala border guard station in Tohmajärvi, right next to the Russian border. The length of the road is 663 kilometres (412 mi).

Apart from the short section right near the center of Turku, highway 9 from Turku to Vuorela of Siilinjärvi is also part of the European route E63, which continues from Kuopio via Kajaani and Kuusamo to Sodankylä. In the case of Jyväskylä, the highway is known as the four-lane Vaajakoski Motorway (Finnish: Vaajakosken moottoritie). The road belongs to the main roads defined by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and to the Trans-European road network.