The only road to Berlevåg was closed when masses of rock from the sea were thrown onto the road and took 50 meters of the guardrail with it. It happened in mid-October, but the clean-up work is still going on and will take a long time. Department director in the National Roads Administration, Edvard Sandvik, says situations like this may happen more often in the years to come. They therefore invest heavily in securing roads and good preparedness. Roy Tore Andersen in Berlevåg Maskin felt the forces of nature when he had to clear the road in the storm. – When we came out to clear, there was an enormous amount of stone on the road. When the waves came, the road was completely lost in foam and water. Half the road was destroyed when stones were thrown up from the sea. Now work will be done to find solutions to secure the road in the future. Photo: Odd Walter Hirsivaara Andersen says they tried to clear the road between the waves, but the work gradually became too dangerous and the road had to be closed. – The largest stones were as much as 100 kilograms. If you get them in the car and into the window, and the sea as well, it will be scary. The result was extensive destruction at the scene of the accident. Two weeks after the incident, Berlevåg Maskin has not yet finished the clean-up work. Climate change can lead to more closed roads Large parts of the road network in Norway are built for the climate we have been used to. Only the new vegans are usually based on new climate projections. Extreme weather “Hans” destroyed and closed over a hundred roads in August. It is an example of how vulnerable our road network is when the weather is not “normal”. Edvard Sandvik, specialist director of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, says that climate change means that vegans must be built in a different way than today. – We will have a new type of weather in the future. It’s getting wetter and wilder, and the 50-year-olds are coming more often. – More rain means that the water goes higher on vegans than before, and we have to build them higher than we do today. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is now planning a road that will tolerate a 200-year flood. But the specialist does not think it is possible to prevent the forces of nature from causing damage. – We will probably see that climate change can make it difficult to keep all our vegans open in the future. But the aim is to keep vegans open as much as possible. – We are therefore working to ensure that climate change does not affect traffic too much. Never experienced weather like this. Roy Tore Andersen and his colleagues at Berlevåg Maskin are responsible for road cleaning in the municipality. From the section of road that has been destroyed, you can see straight out towards the Barents Sea. The road is therefore vulnerable, but Andersen has never experienced such a weather situation. – You can say that both the wind direction from the north-east, a lot of wind and high seas, all this flapped at once. See more pictures of the damage here: Photo: ODD WALTER HIRSIVAARA Photo: ODD WALTER HIRSIVAARA Photo: ODD WALTER HIRSIVAARA Photo: Odd Walter Hirsivaara A vulnerable community Councilor in Berlevåg, Jørgen Holten Jørgensen, says it is important that the stretch of road becomes safer. When the only road to the Berlevåg community is partially destroyed, it makes the community vulnerable. If the road is closed, Berlevåg will become like an island, but unlike other islands, the municipality does not have a ferry charter. – We cannot put in a car ferry. So the transport to and from is very restricted. Jørgen Holten Jørgensen, councilor in Berlevåg, says another type of transport is important when the only road to the fishing port is closed. When it comes to health emergency services, Finnmark has an air ambulance, and the Norwegian Fisheries Agency has an airport. But the destruction caused by natural forces reminds the councilor of how important it is for them to have another type of transport available. For business, the road in and out of Berlevåg is nevertheless very important. Fishing is what society lives on. – We have a lot of traffic from trailers that transport fish out of our municipality. We are completely dependent on that. That is our main income. Then the road must be good enough for that. Bjørg Anita Joki, Transport Manager in Troms and Finnmark County Municipality, has worked for many years with the road network in the county. Photo: Trond Magne Henriksen, Finnmark County Council Professionals are working on solutions for the future Transport manager in Troms and Finnmark County Council, Bjørg Anita Joki, says they have secured the road so he is safe to drive on. In addition, geologists and engineers work to find good solutions to secure the road in the future. – Professionals are now working on a report that will give us advice on what needs to be done in the short and long term, to secure the road and make both lanes available for traffic. Bjørg Anita Joki says the work has a high priority because, among other things, the fishing industry is so important to the coastal community. – We have therefore not reduced the use class on the road, and the fish transport can drive. But there is a light signal and waiting on both sides.
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– It will be more difficult to keep vegans open in the future – news Troms and Finnmark
