Essingeleden is a
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
that goes from
Solna
Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of ...
to
Stockholm,
Sweden, crossing the westmost parts of central Stockholm, by going over
Kungsholmen
Kungsholmen is an island in Lake Mälaren in Sweden, part of central Stockholm, Sweden. It is situated north of Riddarfjärden and considered part of the historical province Uppland. Its area is with a perimeter of . The highest point is a ...
,
Lilla Essingen, and
Stora Essingen.
Essingeleden has three bridges –
Fredhällsbron (270 m),
Essingebron (470 m), and
Gröndalsbron
Gröndalsbron ( sv, The Gröndal bridge) are two bridges in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the island Stora Essingen to the southern mainland district Gröndal.
The older bridge, inaugurated in 1967, forms a 460-metre section of the Ess ...
(460 m) – and one tunnel,
Fredhällstunneln (210 m), which is one of the busiest tunnels in Europe. The road is part of
European route
The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...
E4 and
E20 E20 or E-20 may refer to:
* E20 fuel, a mixture of 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline
* European route E20
* Tandberg E20, a videoconferencing system
* E20, a postcode district in the E postcode area, announced in March 2011 for use on the site of the 20 ...
, and is the busiest road in Sweden, with about 150,000 vehicles per day. In August 2007 this has increased to 170,000 cars per day, because Essingeleden was then the only road through central Stockholm exempt from the
Stockholm congestion tax
The Stockholm congestion tax ( sv, Trängselskatt i Stockholm), also referred to as the Stockholm congestion charge, is a congestion pricing system implemented as a tax levied on most vehicles entering and exiting central Stockholm, Sweden. The ...
, and because of repairs of the main road through the inner city. This has caused big traffic jams on Essingeleden and
Södra länken
Södra länken (''The southern link''), designated as national road 75 ( sv, Riksväg 75), is a motorway in Sweden connecting Essingeleden ( E4, E20), Stockholm with Värmdöleden (county road 222), Nacka. Södra länken is in length, of whi ...
. Since 1 January 2016, Essingeleden has been subject to the congestion tax.
History
The road was inaugurated on 21 August 1966 by
Tage Erlander
Tage Fritjof Erlander (; 13 June 1901 – 21 June 1985) was a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1946 to 1969. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and led the government for an uninterrupted tenu ...
with two temporary lanes in each direction on the western half of the road, as Sweden was about to switch over to right-hand sided traffic the next year. The road was fully operational in September 1967 after Sweden had
switched over to right-hand side traffic, and Essingeleden became the first six-lane motorway in Sweden.
During the 1990s, the road was repainted from six lanes to eight lanes to increase the capacity.
Plans
Essingeleden has on several occasions been included in plans to create a
ring road around Stockholm, but the ring road is only very slowly being built. Not much happened 1966–2000, but then the
Southern Link (opened 2004) and the
Northern Link (opened 2015) were built.
A new parallel motorway is under construction further west, "
Förbifart Stockholm". It will have several tunnels and will be very expensive, around 25 billion SEK. The
Stockholm congestion tax
The Stockholm congestion tax ( sv, Trängselskatt i Stockholm), also referred to as the Stockholm congestion charge, is a congestion pricing system implemented as a tax levied on most vehicles entering and exiting central Stockholm, Sweden. The ...
(gross tax amount 800 MSEK/year) is supposed to be used for this and other road and public transit projects in Stockholm. The construction started in 2014 after several years of debating and planning.
Gallery
Fredhällsbron 1964b.jpg, Fredhäll bridge in 1964 after a collapse
Fredhällstunneln 1965.jpg, Fredhäll tunnel, 1965
Essingeleden 1966a.jpg, Fredhäll tunnel in 1966, shortly after opening. Notice that only one roadway is used
Essingeleden 1967 Dagen H.jpg, Essingeleden on the 3rd of September 1967
Hornsbergs strand Essingeleden 1968.jpg, Construction underway at Kungsholmen in 1968
See also
*
Geography of Stockholm
The City of Stockholm is situated on fourteen islands and on the banks to the archipelago where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea. The city centre is virtually situated on the water.
The area of Stockholm is one of several places in Sweden wit ...
*
Gröndalsbron
Gröndalsbron ( sv, The Gröndal bridge) are two bridges in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the island Stora Essingen to the southern mainland district Gröndal.
The older bridge, inaugurated in 1967, forms a 460-metre section of the Ess ...
*
Essingebron
*
Fredhällsbron
References
External links
{{coord, 59, 20, 42, N, 18, 00, 40, E, source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title
Bridges in Stockholm
Transport in Stockholm
Motorways in Sweden