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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Roadbuilding draws more criticism

After months if not years of criticism and complaints over the poor state of Norwegian roads comes news that state highway contractors intentionally have failed to dig road foundations as deep as frost can go, to save money. As a result, even newly built roads have buckled and cracked because they didn’t withstand their first winters.

Newspaper Aftenposten reported earlier this year how some highways literally cracked up after just one winter. Now the paper has reported how the state highway authority (Veivesenet) has consciously decided against building road foundations below the level at which layers of ground can freeze (telehiv) because they think it’s unnecessary.

“I take it for granted that Norwegian roads should tolerate Norwegian winters,” Transport Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa told Aftenposten. “We shall now dig deeper so the roads can handle more frost.”

Members of Parliament, meanwhile, are demanding to know why so many roads haven’t handled winter weather. Kleppa was expected to face some grilling on the issue this fall.

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