The user experience of driving on E6 when it rains
Posted on | August 15, 2009 |
E6 is one of the main motorways in Norway, connecting the country from South to North, from Oslo (at least) all the way to the northermost tip. Norway is a very rich country, with larger budget surplus, a rather “fat” oil fund and prospects of increasing wealth. Yet E6 is an old, tiny road. No matter, norwegians are few, the country is rather big in proportion to its inhabitants, so road maintenance is very expensive, whichever way you look at it: on a cost per head basis, on a cost per Kms driven, on inhabitants per Kms of road etc.. However…..
….however, the short strip of E6 just north of Oslo, about 45 Kms long, connecting the city with the Airport Gardermoen, is a two-lane motorway with daily heavy traffic (commuters), yet it features the worst asphalt I have ever experienced. It has two main problems, which are evident in particular when it rains: deep tracks and lack of visibility.
Most of the asphalt is old and not well maintained, hence there have formed rather deep tracks, very uncomfortable to drive on. Yet when it rains these tracks become very slippery and outright unsafe to drive on!
The second problem, visibility, is perhaps even worse. The old asphalt has no absorbing or draining properties, so all the water stays on and every car driving lifts a spraying jet which makes visibility very difficult. When one has to overtake a truck matters become way worse. The deep tracks also fills with water, with danger of aquaplaning.
Overall the user experience is very bad, especially considering that it rains bad enough to raise these issues relatively often. What’s more, it is plain unsafe.
Now E6 is being developed: a new stretch of about 15 Kms just north of where the two lanes end today, and another one further north, close to Hamar, also of 15 Kms. I really hope that choice of asphalt will fall on a water draining paste!
Tags: E6 > motorway > norway > road quality > tracks > visibility
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