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European route E6

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E6 shield
E6
Major junctions
North endKirkenes, Norway
South endTrelleborg, Sweden
Location
Countries Norway
 Sweden
Highway system

European route E6 (Norwegian: Europavei 6, Swedish: Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north–south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is 3,056 km (1,899 mi) long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the country north to the Arctic Circle and Nordkapp.[1] The route ends in Kirkenes close to the Russian border.

Route

The Svinesund Bridge crosses the border between Norway and Sweden
The West Coast Motorway E6/E20 in Gothenburg, coming from Malmö. At the junction Olskroksmotet, from where the E20 continues east towards Stockholm and E6 continues north towards Oslo.

From south to north, the E6 runs through Trelleborg, Malmö, Helsingborg, Halmstad, Gothenburg, Svinesund in Sweden, before crossing the border at the Svinesund Bridge into Norway. It then passes Halden, Sarpsborg, Moss, Vestby to the capital Oslo. North of this, it passes by Gardermoen, Hamar, Lillehammer, Dombås, Oppdal, Melhus to Trondheim.

Beyond Trondheim, the E6 meets Stjørdalshalsen, Verdalsøra, Steinkjer, Grong, Mosjøen, Mo i Rana, then over the Saltfjellet mountains. It then passes through Rognan, Fauske, and Hamarøy towards Bognes, where there is a ferry crossing over the Tysfjorden to Skarberget. It then runs through on via Narvik, Setermoen, Nordkjosbotn, Skibotn, and Alta to Olderfjord, where European route E69 continues north towards Nordkapp. The E6, meanwhile, turns south towards Lakselv and Karasjok, then runs on the west bank of the Anarjohka, which forms the border with Finland. Beyond the border, it passes through Varangerbotn, and Kirkenes, where the road terminates just east of the town center.

Between Trelleborg and Kirkenes, there is a more than 800 km (500 mi) shorter route using E4 and E75, among the longest detour any European route has. In Finnmark there are several shorter alternative routes to the E6. Moreover, on the stretch from Oslo to Trondheim, following E6 strictly is a 40-kilometre (25 mi) detour compared to using Norwegian National Road 3 or Norwegian National Road 4 for their applicable portions of the trip.

Features

The E6 south of Narvik

The road is a 2+2 lane motorway from outside Trelleborg to Moelv, about 740 kilometres (460 mi). The last Swedish part of the E6 motorway through Bohuslän was completed in 2015.[2][3] This motorway is also connected to Central Europe by uninterrupted motorway (via E20). Some stretches further north also have four lanes or motorway standard. The rest of the road is usually 6–10-metre (20–33 ft) wide ordinary road. Some parts in the north of Norway are less than 6 m (20 ft) wide, making it very tight when heavy vehicles meet. The northern half of the road, north of Trondheim, is also often fairly curvy, making high speeds a possible safety hazard.

E6 passes over treeless mountain passes in a few places in Norway. In the winter, bad weather and snow storms can cause the road to be temporarily closed, though, unlike many minor roads, it is kept open wherever practical.[4] Because the road is the main artery through the country, cyclists and leisure travellers avoid the southern sections owing to the excessive traffic. In the north, traffic is sparse.[5]

Electronic road tolls in Norway

There are more than 100 electronic tolls on the Norwegian stretch of E6 between Svinesund and Narvik. This system is based on the assumption that every road user has a credit card and a smartphone to register their vehicle at www.Autopass.no, a website owned by the Norwegian national road administration. There is no place or way to pay for your tolls with cash money.[6] If the bills aren't paid by registering the car on the web, a bill with a higher price will be sent home. It is also not possible to evade toll sections by taking smaller parallel roads. Quite a lot of foreign visitors to Norway do not understand how old slow roads that are not motorways can even be toll roads.[7] Others are complaining that the Norwegian road toll system works like a trap, because the amount of road toll in cities like Oslo and Trondheim tends to depend on multiple factors, like time of travelling and emission category of the vehicle, making it impossible to predict the exact price of a road trip from the Swedish border at Svinesund till Nordkapp (North Cape). Electric cars have large discount, but it is fairly hard to get this discount with a foreign electric car. Scammers have been reported to jump on the bandwagon, by sending fake toll bills, to obtain credit card information.[8] Increasing road tolls were also the reason for a large protest in several cities in Norway in 2018 and 2019.[9] Norwegian authorities refuse to comment on the number of fines for unpaid tolls that they cannot collect.

History and future plans

This road was called E6 in the old "E" road system before 1975 and previously it continued to Rome (introduced in Sweden 1962 and in Norway 1965). However before 1969 E6 went only to Stjørdal near Trondheim and 1969 – 1983 to Nordkjosbotn near Tromsø. The road was considered in too bad condition to be E-routes further north until it got upgraded. Parts were gravel roads. The non-E-route sections were called national route 6 from 1965.

It was given the number E47 (but not signposted) in the new system on most of the Scandinavian part (Helsingborg–Olderfjord), and E6 only for the northernmost 460 km (290 mi) (from Olderfjord in Finnmark). After a political negotiation, the whole part passing through Scandinavia was given the number E6 in the new system, introduced in Scandinavia in 1992. The part Trelleborg-Helsingborg was never intended to be part of E47. E47 connects to E4 at the Helsingør-Helsingborg ferry, and E4 and E6 connect just outside Helsingborg.

The E6 became a 4-lane motorway all the way from Trelleborg to Kolomoen (near Hamar) in 2015,[2] although the road is sometimes wider. The new Svinesund Bridge opened in 2005, replacing an earlier and narrower bridge from 1946.[10] The oldest 4-lane motorway along E6 is Gothenburg-Kungälv from 1958, meaning the motorway construction through Sweden took 57 years.

Between 2012 and 2018, the road was shortened by 39 kilometres (24 mi) between Narvik and Alta, by building the Hålogaland Bridge and more bridges and tunnels.

The 60-kilometre (37 mi) road between Moelv and Øyer is under conversion to a 4-lane motorway, partly set to be finished around 2025,[11] partly (including a new Mjøsa Bridge) postponed to a later year of around or after 2030.

In Trøndelag, several sections north and south of Trondheim are under construction, or planned as motorways. This project is planned to be 106 kilometres (66 mi) long and it will go from the junction with Norwegian National Road 3 at Ulsberg in the south to Åsen north of Trondheim Airport, Værnes, set to be finished in 2027/2028. It will be financed by the state owned company Nye Veier.[12]

Interruption due to landslides and floodings

On 20 December 20, 2006, a large landslide occurred just south of Munkedal in connection with the construction of a motorway at the site which also affected the old road. About 15 cars and a truck were involved, but no one was seriously injured. There were no good alternative routes past the site, so only narrow roads, different per direction, with long detours, were signposted as alternatives. A small road via Skredsvik, not mentioned in recommendations, were used by most local residents and also bus traffic. The Bohusbanan railway was also destroyed in the landslide. The road was reopened on 15 February 2007 and the railway later.

On 8 June 2022, a damaged fairly short bridge (at Badderen), that resulted in a 163-kilometre (101 mi) detour between Tromsø and Alta, got a temporary bridge installed (over the damaged bridge) after a week interruption.[13][14][15][16][17]

Main article: 2023 Stenungsund landslide

On 23 September 2023, a large landslide destroyed a section of about 700 metres (2,300 ft) of the highway, near Stenungsund, north of Gothenburg.[18] The landslide also destroyed a local road, a fuel station, a fast food restaurant and a hardware store. Parked trucks got trapped in crevasses around the fuel station.[19] The pre-1990 E6 through Ucklum was used while the motorway was closed. The reopening of E6 motorway took place the 3rd of July 2024, several months ahead of the previous schedule.[20] Shortly before King Carl XVI Gustaf arrived to cut the ribbon and declare the route reopened, a truckload of rotting salmon was cleared away from the site of the landslide.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Top 10 Drivers' Drives". National Geographic. Archived from the original on September 20, 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Motorväg genom hela Bohuslän" (Press release) (in Swedish). Swedish Transport Administration. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  3. ^ Kind, Hanne Stine; Eide, Stein S. (25 June 2015). "Sju års E6-ventetid er over". NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  4. ^ Lonely Planet : Norway. Lonely Planet. 2011. p. 415. ISBN 978-1-742-20472-7.
  5. ^ "Norway". International Cyclist. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  6. ^ How to pay toll in Norway Ferde, retrieved 3rd of July 2024
  7. ^ Road toll system baffles visitors News in English, published 16th of July 2012, retrieved 3rd of July 2024
  8. ^ The Toll Road Scam: Unmasking a Growing Threat Johnathon Horner, on LinkedIn, published 21st of April 2024, retrieved 3rd of July 2024
  9. ^ Road toll uproar rolled into Oslo News in English, published 6th of September 2018, retrieved 3rd of July 2024
  10. ^ Strait Crossings 2001. CRC Press. 2001. p. 173. ISBN 978-9-026-51845-4.
  11. ^ E6 Storhove – Øyer
  12. ^ "Nye Veier AS". Nye Veier. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Badderen bru åpnet for trafikk". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  14. ^ "Det er mer enn ei bru i Nord-Norge som har gitt etter. Det er tilliten som smuldrer opp". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  15. ^ Andreassen, Rune N. (2022-06-05). "Midlertidig bru snart klar: Gjenåpner E6 i Nord-Troms allerede onsdag". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  16. ^ "Midlertidig bru settes inn over Badderen på E6 i Nord-Troms". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  17. ^ Wilhelms, Hanne (2022-05-31). "E6 stengt i Nord-Troms – omkjøring via Finland". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  18. ^ Nikel, David (2023-09-23). "Landslide Destroys Main E6 Sweden-Norway Highway". Life in Norway. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  19. ^ "A landslide in Sweden causes a huge sinkhole on a highway and 3 are injured when cars crash". AP News. 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  20. ^ E6 Highway to Reopen Early After Landslide Sweden Today, Swedish news in English, publishing date unknown, retrieved 3rd of July 2024
  21. ^ Toxic Cleanup Chaos Before King's Visit Sweden Today, Swedish news in English, retrieved 4th of July 2024
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