Travel chaos MAP: How to avoid the worst roads at Midsummer
This weekend is set to be one of the busiest of the year on Swedish roads as holidaymakers and tourists head off to celebrate Midsummer. Here's how to keep updated on traffic.
Midsummer is one of the most popular holidays of the year in Sweden, with more road accidents than normal as people leave the city for the countryside to dance around a maypole like little frogs (don't ask).
The busiest days tend to be Thursday, Friday morning and Sunday, while most people sleep in on the Saturday to nurse their aquavit hangovers from the Midsummer Eve festivities.
The Swedish Transport Administration has issued guidelines about which roads are expected to be the most packed, with the busiest roads marked in red below (scroll down to the bottom for a map of these roads).
What should I do?
Drivers are urged to start their journey early, plan ahead as far as possible, be well rested, stick to the speed limit, keep their hands off the phone, keep their distance, wear seat belts and take regular breaks.
Keep up to date with road conditions with this map of accidents and roadworks.
And: don't drink and drive, and don't get behind the wheel the morning after a party.
The drink-driving limit in Sweden is 0.1 mg alcohol/litre exhaled air, or 0.2 parts per thousand in the blood. Serious drink-driving is classified as above 0.5 mg alcohol/litre or 1.0 parts per thousand in the blood.
The punishment for a standard drink-driving offence is a fine or the police confiscating your driving licence (this will happen on the spot if you have more than 0.16 mg alcohol/litre in your breath). A serious drink-driving offence can result in up to two years in jail – or up to eight years if you injure anyone.
Avoid fines by sticking to the speed limit. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
Good words to know
roadworks – (ett) vägarbete
accident – (en) olycka
queue – (en) kö
road closed – (en) avstängd väg
traffic announcement – (ett) trafikmeddelande
Keep your distance to other cars. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT
Which roads are the busiest?
Queues are expected on the E22 between Norrköping and Kalmar, where many continue on across the bridge to the island of Öland.
Also expected to be busy are the E6 motorway on the western coast, the E18 from Stockholm to Norrtälje and roads 50 and 60 in Dalarna, a popular region which is famous for its traditional Midsummer celebrations.
The map below by the Swedish Transport Administration shows the roads that are expected to be the busiest during the Midsummer weekend. They are marked in red, but it is a good idea to be careful even if you're not travelling via one of those roads as traffic is hard to predict and things can change quickly.
The grey lines show other major roads, and the dotted lines show county borders.
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Midsummer is one of the most popular holidays of the year in Sweden, with more road accidents than normal as people leave the city for the countryside to dance around a maypole like little frogs (don't ask).
The busiest days tend to be Thursday, Friday morning and Sunday, while most people sleep in on the Saturday to nurse their aquavit hangovers from the Midsummer Eve festivities.
The Swedish Transport Administration has issued guidelines about which roads are expected to be the most packed, with the busiest roads marked in red below (scroll down to the bottom for a map of these roads).
What should I do?
Drivers are urged to start their journey early, plan ahead as far as possible, be well rested, stick to the speed limit, keep their hands off the phone, keep their distance, wear seat belts and take regular breaks.
Keep up to date with road conditions with this map of accidents and roadworks.
And: don't drink and drive, and don't get behind the wheel the morning after a party.
The drink-driving limit in Sweden is 0.1 mg alcohol/litre exhaled air, or 0.2 parts per thousand in the blood. Serious drink-driving is classified as above 0.5 mg alcohol/litre or 1.0 parts per thousand in the blood.
The punishment for a standard drink-driving offence is a fine or the police confiscating your driving licence (this will happen on the spot if you have more than 0.16 mg alcohol/litre in your breath). A serious drink-driving offence can result in up to two years in jail – or up to eight years if you injure anyone.
Avoid fines by sticking to the speed limit. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
Good words to know
roadworks – (ett) vägarbete
accident – (en) olycka
queue – (en) kö
road closed – (en) avstängd väg
traffic announcement – (ett) trafikmeddelande
Keep your distance to other cars. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT
Which roads are the busiest?
Queues are expected on the E22 between Norrköping and Kalmar, where many continue on across the bridge to the island of Öland.
Also expected to be busy are the E6 motorway on the western coast, the E18 from Stockholm to Norrtälje and roads 50 and 60 in Dalarna, a popular region which is famous for its traditional Midsummer celebrations.
The map below by the Swedish Transport Administration shows the roads that are expected to be the busiest during the Midsummer weekend. They are marked in red, but it is a good idea to be careful even if you're not travelling via one of those roads as traffic is hard to predict and things can change quickly.
The grey lines show other major roads, and the dotted lines show county borders.
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