This winter has Kvænangen in Nord-Troms incurred a record as mayor any time should be without.
the Mayor of the Kvænangen Eirik Losnegaard Mevik.
Photo: Dan Robert Larsen / NRK
– We dream the about the opposite. It is not to the doctor’s appointment, at the hospital, at work, or to the neighboring municipality to act. Meetings in the municipality is exposed. Training providers do not come forward. Everyday life is put on hold for those who should have moved, ” says Eirik Losnegaard Mevik.
the only ferdselsåren between the rest of the country and Kvænangen on the border between Troms and Finnmark, the E6 over Kvænangsfjellet, has been closed a total of 77 times.
There is an obvious new record, showing fresh figures from the Norwegian public roads administration. But it is not only Kvænangsfjellet that has been closed a record number of times.
It appears that the challenges with the amounts of snow leave in the north is over yet. From here maintenance on the Nordkyn.
Photo: Stian Andersen – Have records everywhere
There are updated figures from the vegtrafikksentralen which has given the Norwegian public roads administration the basis for a vinterstatistikk they do not have beheld for hovedforbindelsene in Northern Norway.
the Director of Operations North in the Norwegian public roads administration, Tore Lysberg, says stengningene mainly about the weather.
the Figures show records everywhere. Winter this year has been particularly demanding. Just about all the mountain passes have significantly more stengninger than we have experienced in the past.
Head of department Unni M. Gifstad in Transport in the north of the Norwegian public roads administration.
Photo: Gisle Forland / NRK
Head of department Unni M. Gifstad in Transport in the north of the Norwegian public roads administration says the numbers show that transportårene between the south and north in Northern Norway is very vulnerable. She believes the economic consequences of the closures are not captured by their metrics.
But there is no doubt that this has major consequences for society, and that it can be critical when there are special situations, such as we are experiencing now, ” says Gifstad.
It has people in Kvænangen, including mayor Eric Losnegaard Mevik, marked exceptionally well this winter.
– Impossible to plan everyday life
The previous record for the Kvænangsfjellet is 44 stengninger through a season. The average is 32, figures from the Norwegian public roads administration. In the winter of 2020: 77.
One can say that we know where we are staying, but the authorities must be able to see that there is an obvious challenge that the country is split in two so often. The recruitment of labor is difficult. There, one hears people say: Had it not been for the Kvænangsfjellet …
number of municipalities have this winter, also experienced to be totally isolated more often than before, when the only way to the municipality must close. Most at risk are the north Cape, Lebesby, Gamvik, Måsøy, Båtsfjord and Berlevåg, on the coast in Eastern Finnmark.
Kvænangen in Northern Troms is still one possibility from to be isolated when the E6 where once again closed. But omkjøringsmuligheten extends reisevegen significant. It goes through Finland.
To live with constant uncertainty about when the road will open, making it impossible to plan, ” says the mayor of the Kvænangen Eirik Losnegaard Mevik.
Photo: Eirik Losnegård Mevik
There are no real options, ” says mayor Losnegaard Mevik.
– For one thing is the actual stengningene. It’s also about the choices one does not take, because one can’t plan. It is an obstacle for development when it is so difficult to plan anything. says the mayor.
He asks still urge the government that the promised correction of the road over the mountain, with tunnels included, should mean that they again can start to plan. Losnegaard Mevik says he believes people have been am full, in 40 years.
I think there is a reason that people use humor. It is not something else to do. This is hovedferdselsåra in Northern Norway. My urgent prayer to those who govern is that the project to repair the road over the mountain must be so good that it is kept open throughout the year.
Gunn Nilsen in Kvænangen describes the opposite NRK a winter with snøskavler so high that they do telefondekningen challenging.
Nilsen live in Burfjord in Kvænangen municipality, and keep up to date on when vegstrekninga over the mountain is closed, and shares with other residents in a Facebook group for people in the area.
– I understand that E6 is closed, I don’t see the trees in the garden. But it makes me worried, for it is our way to the hospital. We don’t have that offer here. We need to Tromsø. We know very well the feeling of living behind a mountain. It makes everything difficult, everything from the post to the delivery of the medicine. Not in the least suffer the business community here very of it, ” says Gunn Nilsen the Norwegian broadcasting corporation NRK.
Three new snørekorder in Troms and Finnmark But if a record has a negative side.
