The Soccer Coach

Heading home from a photo shoot at the Fållbrunna farm last week (photos to come), I was stopped by a cyclist. This is Patrik, a member of the Fredrikshof's Bicycle Club. He wanted to know how to get to Nynäshamn on the old road 73, so I pointed him in the right way. I can be tricky here as the new road opened just last year. Patrik comes from Bagarmossen. He averages around 80 to 100 km on his rides around Södertörn. Today he was on his own, but a couple of evenings every week you can often see a bunch of riders from his club out on the roads around here .I have a couple of cool photos of cyclists from that club. When Patrik is not working, riding his bike or photographing with his canon, he coaches a soccer team where his daughters play.

Just another day on the motorway

Surprisingly all the politicians left the scene in a hurry when suddenly a bunch of nearly naked young men took to the same stage. Dressed in white underwear and with gigantic white balls on their heads their sudden appearance made most of the crowd a little uneasy, especially when they walked off the stage to mingle with the now somewhat nervously laughing crowd. The second photo shows Robot Man. His real name in Mikael. He was a big hit with the kids (and everyone else). He has attended the Cirkus Cirkör school and has been working as an artist for a few years. More info about the Robot Man on his website. On the last photo you see what can only be described as a very tall American. He spoke American English and walked around asking people for money. Must be some American tradition! All in all just another day on the motorway...

The Circus Girl

This is Moa. I met her on Saturday when she was performing with her fellow circus students and other circus performers during the opening ceremony for the new motorway that I told you about in yesterdays post. Moa is attending the three year program at the Cirkus Cirkör secondary school. Cirkus Cirkör is a contemporary circus group that was formed in Stockholm in 1995 by Tilde Björfors. The next step in Moa's education could be three years at the University College of Dance in Stockholm, or a similar school in France. After that all the world could be her stage. We talked a little about how the school works, and it's very different from when I was her age, we didn't have circus schools in Sweden back then. On the second photo you can see Moa in the very cool bathtub bike sitting next to a young girl who must have been very excited by meeting these circus people.

We hereby declare...

The very dangerous road between Haninge and Nynäshamn (a port city), have been an issue for a couple of decades. The nick name for Road 73 has been The Road of Death. Many people have lost their lives here, and everyone you talk to seem to know someone who has died here. A couple of years ago construction of a new road finally started. And on Saturday the second part of the road opened for traffic. Thousands of people attended the opening ceremony that took place on the road at Överfors near Ösmo in Nynäshamn. It took eight people to declare the new road open, and you can see them all here with scissors in hand. They are:

Per Unckel, County Governor in Stockholm.
Ilija Batljan,Municipal Commissioner of Nynäshamn.
Åsa Torstensson, Minister for Transportation.
Lena Erixon, Director-general at the Swedish Road Administration.
Anders Granat, County Governor Gotland.
Christer Agerback,Managing director from the Swedish Road Administration.
Gilbert de Wendel, Municipal Commissioner in Haninge.
Ulla Hamilton, Municipal Commissioner from Stockholm City.

Before and after the speeches from all the politicians and the moderator Rikard Olsson, there was high class entertainment starting with a few songs from the well known composer Stefan Nilsson and a 200-strong choir. After that a popular circus group performed ( I will show you some photos and portraits in the coming days). They were followed onto the stage by a popular Swedish boy band, E.M.D. which got the full attention from all the young girls in the crowd. When all was said and done, guess what I did? I decided to go for a bike ride on the new road. It was a strange feeling as I was all alone on the new road. On the second photo I was going downhill and decided to shoot a Look Mom, No Hands! photo. It was still a few hours left before the road was opened for traffic, and I rode the twelve kilometre stretch to the Tungelsta junction as I wanted. Stopping here and there for photos. With a kilometre left I noticed a man walking on the road. It was a former road engineer that had got the same idea as me. This was my last ever bike ride on this road, as bicycles are not allowed here, but from now the old road will be used by slow traffic only, and that's where you will find me in the future.

The New Motorway

Over the weekend when most of the work on the new motorway between Haninge and Nynäshamn was at a stand still, I took my bicycle down to Hemfosa (see my second photo from my post the other day), for a sneak peak and a somewhat illegal test run. I had to climb up a hill near a pedestrian tunnel to get onto the road, but it was well worth it. The part I checked out was a stretch between two bridges. One of the bridges is almost completed, work on the other is yet to be started. Svevia is one of the contractors that is responsible for this part of the new road. The big yellow thing is that companies mobile stone crushing machine and asphalt machine. At the moment it is placed on what will be the new road, and this part of the road is supposed to be finished this autumn. The old road is known in Sweden as the Road of Death. Over the years many people have lost their lives here. Two years ago I showed a photo of a car collision. When the new motorway opens for traffic, the old road will be used mainly by cyclists and the odd tractor.


The original photos can be seen in my flickr set.

Bridge Work

The construction of this bridge was finished some time ago. It's part of the new national Road 73 that will now be a motorway also between Västerhaninge and Nynäshamn. Hopefully the new route will be known under a different name than the existing one "Road of Death". It still looks a bit surreal as there are no roads leading up to the bridge just yet. The gravel road I took is very old, and if you know your way around, it will take you all the way from Karlsro in Tungelsta to the Häringe peninsula and the best part is that hardly any cars ever use this old road.

The Tank Truck Company

A tank truck parked at Stav. A new road is being constructed here. Road 73 from Fors to Nynäshamn is one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Sweden. Many people have died here over the years. When the new road is completed, the old road will be used by cyclists and you will probably see me on my bike, on my way to the beach, or to the nature reserve, or even continuing all the way to the port city of Nynäshamn. Oh, and just a quick note about the price of gas. We pay 100 per cent more here than in the US, so driving is kind of expensive.

Road Construction

Road 73 at Stav just outside of Tungelsta. With only two lanes. There's heavy traffic on this road to and from the ferry port at Nynäshamn. The road sees many trucks coming from the ferrys from Gdansk (Poland), and Ventspils (Latvia), and also tourists heading to and from Gotland. In the background they are working on the new road that will have four lanes. It will be finished in a couple of years time. Hopefully the number of deaths will go down then. This part of Road 73 has a very bad accident record to say the least.

Why we need the new road

Road 73, the most accident prone and dangerous road in the country. People die here in fatal accidents all the time. Construction of the new road has started and will be finished in a few years so there's probably a few more accindent waiting to happen. Shot this on my way home from a visit to the beach at Östnora. Photo taken at Utlida.

It only took 25 years...

Todays photo really should have been taken 25 years ago. That is for how long the construction of this road has been delayed. Many people have lost their life's on the dangerous Road 73 over the last decades. Now finally they are preparing for the new road between Fors in Västerhaninge and down to the port town of Nynäshamn. This photo is part of a zooming sequence and the other photos can be seen in my Zooming in set.
See where the new road will go. [?]