On the road

If you want to take a longish bike ride from Stockholm to Nynäshamn, and live to tell the story that is easy these days. Road 73 between Västerhaninge and Nynäshamn (40km or so), used to be a very dangerous road for everyone that used it. But since the completion of the new road the old road is only used by locals, a few delivery vehicles and cyclists. You will ride through many interesting places where you can stop at old castles, ruins, nature reserves, and much more. If you ride from the port town of Nynäshamn, this is near the end of the road, at Berga in Västerhaninge.

Autumn Road

Empty road. A few years ago this was the most dangerous road in the country. Today it is a dream for cyclists. The new road opened a couple of years ago, and this is often the scene on the old road. Shot this near the agricultural college at Berga.

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...

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.

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. [?]