Ring 1, Hammersborgtunnelen | Traffic chaos due to opulent government quarters

Ordinary people’s wasted time has almost no value when the road authorities count on society’s profitability in new road projects. In a month’s time, there will be traffic changes that will affect more than 1.5 million residents in the capital area.

This lack of respect for lost time has been given a glaring example through the decision to close Ring1 in Oslo and throw the electric cars out of the public transport lanes elsewhere in the city. All because the government and the Storting want to build a new government quarter where each workplace costs over NOK 13 million!

It would therefore have been cheaper to buy an office villa each for the state bureaucrats…

You would have thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but the date 2 April unfortunately shows that the National Road Administration and Oslo Municipality are now removing the access for electric cars to drive in public transport lanes in Oslo and Akershus.

The greater Oslo region has over 1.5 million inhabitants, so this measure will have enormous consequences for everyone who, for one reason or another, is dependent on driving for work in the capital.

The reasoning for the ban to apply to all national and European roads in two counties – i.e. both – is difficult to understand, and it is not made clearer by the fact that Oslo will single-handedly introduce the ban on all municipal roads beyond the thin justification that it is important to have a uniform regulation, according to the Norwegian Environment Agency.

– It is important to ensure the best possible flow of public transport and uniform regulation of the public transport lanes across state and municipal roads. That is why the municipality of Oslo also chooses to remove the option for electric cars to drive in the public transport lanes on the municipal roads, says Rune Gjøs, divisional director of the Urban Environment Agency.

Dates of Chaos

The reason for closing one of Oslo’s busiest roads and the only one that connects the city center east to west is that the Hammersborg tunnel must be lowered ten meters to secure the new government quarter against terror à la 22 July.

Today, it is estimated that 17,400 cars, buses and trucks drive through the Hammersborg tunnel every single day. From this summer and three years from now, the tunnel will be closed!

also read

The date ready for the infamous Ring 1 closure. Stops all traffic for three years

In exchange, we get a government quarter worth over NOK 50 billion and a collection of many terrorist targets into one large terrorist target in the center of Oslo.

Here are the dates for the mayhem:

• The prohibition signs for electric cars on national and European roads will take place from 6 May.
• In Oslo, the prohibition signs on the municipal roads will be finished by 1 July.
• At the same time, the date that the Hammersborg tunnel and Ring1 are closed.

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Way-unwise

– we encourage those who can leave the car and instead travel by public transport, cycle or walk, says project manager traffic, Halvard Gavelstad in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

For anyone queuing on their way into Oslo, it is almost provocative advice, and it is in any case rather worthless for anyone who has to use a car because their job requires it, or because there are poor public transport services between their place of work, home and their children’s schools , nurseries and leisure facilities.

This could have been avoided if someone in the government and in the Storting had put their foot down for a plan for the new government quarter which involved closing one of Oslo’s most important roads. Oslo municipality has tried to protest, but has been overrun.

also read

Unparalleled public waste

The government quarter chokes traffic

No one is against people who can, choosing public transport, cycling or walking. It is good for public health and good for the environment, and also good for your wallet and the economy.

But smooth and fast traffic also creates value. With today’s prices for parking in the city centre, it is natural to assume that many people who drive a car simply need the car to get to work.

After the availability of electric cars in the public transport lanes was tightened by requiring two people in the car, traffic flows more or less like this on the exit roads. The reason why the electric cars are now being thrown out is not that the public transport lanes are overcrowded, but that the government quarter closes Ring1 and throttles traffic elsewhere in the city and county.

Who is to blame?

The new government quarter will accommodate just over 4,400 employees, including the prime minister and ministers.

Who is to blame? The answer is that no government has stopped the madness, even though the price has increased from a few billion to well over NOK 50 billion. That responsibility goes to both Jens Stoltenberg, Erna Solberg and Jonas Gahr Støre.

In practice, they have put state bureaucrats and their own working situation before the consideration of ordinary people.

The new city council in Oslo inherits the decision to close Ring1, and most people have not yet understood how chaotic the traffic situation will be in the country’s capital for the next three (!) years.

Time will tell if the Hammersborg Tunnel will ever be reopened to normal traffic, and if electric cars with two passengers will be allowed to use public transport lanes again when the tunnel work is over.