County roads, national roads and European roads were closed 766 times due to landslides, avalanches, rock slides and rockfalls in 2022 and 2023.
This year too, there have been a number of landslides that have closed roads – 377 up to the start of September. At the latest on the night of Sunday it went a landslide in Nesbyen.
It shows overviews The daily has received from the Norwegian Road Administration and the five road traffic centres, which are located in Oslo, Bergen, Porsgrunn, Trondheim and Mosjøen.
– Norway has experienced the damage from both “Hans” and “Jacob” and now most recently the storm in the North, states Ingunn Handagard, press manager at NAF.
– Expect increased effort
Extreme weather Hans hit Southern Norway in August last year, while extreme weather Jakob hit Western Norway at the end of October this year. Just a few days ago, it was Northern Norway’s turn to be exposed to heavy rainfall in combination with high winds and record high temperatures, despite the fact that the calendar shows the month of November.
– It is urgent to secure the roads against a wetter and wilder climate, and avalanche protection is an important part of this, emphasizes Handagard.
– The government says we can expect more serious floods and landslides in the future, and we therefore expect increased efforts to secure the road network.
The government, however, believes that it has the upper hand when it comes to this.
– People must get around safely on Norwegian roads and railways, therefore avalanche protection is a priority area for the government, says State Secretary Tom Kalsås (Ap) in the Ministry of Transport.
– We have a national implementation plan for landslide and avalanche protection of all national and county roads with a high and medium landslide factor, which is presented in the National Transport Plan 2025-2036, he points out.
– The aim is to improve as many as possible of the mapped landslide points in the medium and high category, during the planning period.
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Eliminates 57 avalanche points
An updated survey carried out by the National Roads Administration shows that there are 461 landslide-prone places on the national road network. Of these, 255 have a high or medium risk of landslides.
There are close to 1,700 landslide-prone places on the county roads. For 541 of them there is a high or medium risk of landslides.
“It is a goal to improve as many as possible of the mapped landslide points in the medium and high category during the planning period. On national roads, several of the large projects in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s portfolio will have an effect on landslides,” reads the National Transport Plan for 2025-2036.
Projects on seven European roads and two national roads are mentioned in this connection.
“When these projects are completed, 57 landslide points will be eliminated,” the government writes in its transport plan.
It is also pointed out that there will also be “individual pure avalanche protection projects and improvement projects that may contain avalanche protection” in smaller road projects. Some other avalanche prevention measures will also be implemented.
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– Is a high priority
– Several large avalanche protection projects are highly prioritized in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s portfolio prioritization, says State Secretary Tom Kalsås.
– The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is also working on greater use of active safety measures to reduce serious landslides and flooding incidents on open roads, reduce natural encroachment and to get more out of the money.
– For the county roads, the government has prioritized strengthening the scheme with special distribution over the framework grant for landslide and avalanche protection, Kalsås also states.
Ingunn Handagard in NAF is not impressed by the government’s plans for the county roads.
– The proposal for 2025 contains an amount of just over NOK 980 million. In 2024, this amount amounted to approximately NOK 942 million, Handagard points out.
This indicates an increase of approximately 4.1 per cent, but at the same time the costs for operation and maintenance are rising by significantly more than the price increase in the rest of society, according to NAF. In three years, it has become 28.1 per cent more expensive to maintain the roads, while the price increase in society has been 15.7 per cent, the association has calculated.
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– Takes plenty of time
Other parts of the government’s plans for avalanche protection are also not up to par, compared to what the government announced in the Hurdal platform – according to which the Labor Party and Sp govern the country, NAF believes.
Here it appears that the government will “take the initiative to draw up a national implementation plan for landslide and avalanche protection of all national roads and county roads with a high and medium landslide factor together with the county councils.”
– What is missing from the government’s implementation plan, as you in NAF consider it?
– We believe that the government is taking too much time, and that too many projects are either in the second period of the National Transport Plan, or lack a start date or funding, replies Handagard.
– The grants depend on the budget processing from year to year, and there is not a good enough overview of the overall investment in landslide and avalanche protection.
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– The promises are clear
– Do you think that the government should have presented plans for remedial measures for all the landslide-prone points with high or medium risk?
– Yes, we believe that such an overview should have been included in the National Transport Plan. The lifts in the Hurdal platform are clear, both on national and county roads. As it stands now, it is difficult to keep track of how far we will have come within the first six-year period, and how much will be left.
– Is it practically and economically possible to start with avalanche protection, so to speak, everywhere, at the same time?
– It is possible to initiate more than today, especially by increasing transfers to the counties. We are calling for a more comprehensive plan for county roads and stronger investment, replies Handagard.
– On national highways, many projects that include avalanche protection are now being started, but there are still 51 avalanche protection projects that are not relevant in the planning period. Having mapped these stretches is not the same as having plans to secure them.
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