Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2013, Page 14

14The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 5 — 2013
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Through the southern half of this ancient field, how-
ever, the town of Garðabær is planning to build Nýi
(“New”) Álftanesvegur, a six-lane freeway comprised
of two bisecting roads. It would lie just a few kilome-
tres north of the existing two-lane Álftanesvegur road.
The plans were initially proposed and environmentally
assessed by the municipality’s division of Vegagerðin
(“The Icelandic Road Administration”) in 2002 and
subsequently approved by parliament in 2009.
The new road was meant to bolster the town’s ex-
panding community, in particular the potential new
residents of a luxury housing development on the
southern-most edge of Gálgahraun. “Many of the resi-
dents there bought their homes based on the idea that
the new road would be built,” Garðabær Mayor Gun-
nar Einarsson says. “It will be necessary to accommo-
date them.”
HANDS OFF MY LAVA
However, the planned construction has been met by
opposition from the onset, in particular from a group
called Hraunavinir (“Friends of Lava”). They have
launched petitions, organised protest marches and
held meetings with Garðabær city officials to try to get
them to reevaluate the first assessment, which expired
in May 2012, and offer an alternate plan to improve
the existing road.
“The last assessment was only valid for ten years,”
says Gunnsteinn Ólafsson, a Hraunavinir board mem-
ber. “Vegagerðin says that, because they have done
repairs to the entrance of the road and also built a
roundabout at Bessastaðir, the construction has al-
ready started. But those two projects were not included
in the plan for Nýi Álftanesvegur. They are trying to
circumvent the law.”
The opposition arose mainly from the fact that the
area is in the Nature Conservation Register, a list of
protected areas and areas where the circumstances
exist to declare nature reserves or create national or
country parks. “It’s up to the municipalities to decide
how they regard these areas,” Gunnsteinn says. “So the
City of Garðabær decided that the area north of the
planned road would be a protected area, but not south
of it, even though it is exactly the same nature.”
As the number of protesters increased and discus-
sions reached a stalemate, writer and environmental
activist Andri Snær Magnason wrote an open letter to
Gunnar Einarsson, published in the Fréttablaðið news-
paper on April 20. “I just got tired of seeing people
writing all these petitions and protesting and not be-
ing addressed,” Andri says. “Of course I don’t think I
have the right to demand a meeting with a mayor and
that he obey my requests, but I felt I had to say some-
thing.” His letter called for Gunnar to reconsider the
economical, environmental and cultural impact that
this planned construction would have.
With opposition at a fever pitch, Minister of the
Interior Ögmundur Jónasson issued a statement to
the City of Garðabær requesting that it withhold
signing a construction contract until a second assess-
ment is completed. “I think it is necessary to listen
to the voice of opposition,” Ögmundur says. “This is
not the first time I have intervened in this dispute.
I have organised a few discussion meetings and the
authorities in Garðabær have always been willing to
attend them. Now I hope there will be proper consul-
tations with the protestors.”
PAVED WITH GOOD
INTENTIONS
The Garðabær division of Vegagerðin is currently do-
ing a second assessment of the road plan, which Gun-
nar says will be done by the end of May. “If the new
assessment shows anything new that we have to take
into account, we will,” he says. “The implementation
will take place on Vegagerðin’s side.” The new assess-
ment will examine factors such as safety, traffic, cost,
construction time and environmental impact.
He adds that the city officials are more than hap-
py to comply with Ögmundur’s request for a second
review as it doesn’t hurt anyone to take a second
look. “We aren’t trying to come forward with this
proposal aggressively,” Gunnar says. “We just want
to make sure we look at all the possibilities and do
this respectfully.”
While the road currently serves a community of
2,500 people and transports twice as many vehicles at
most per day, the planned new road will accommodate
50,000 vehicles per day. Despite the disparity in these
numbers, Gunnar maintains the new road’s necessity.
“The old one is very dangerous and we have to make
room for future traffic in the area,” he says. “We are
planning to begin building homes in Garðaholt soon,
the area south of the current Álftanesvegur, as it’s one
of the best areas to build on.”
Gunnsteinn and Andri disagree with Gunnar about
the new road’s necessity. “The problem is that people
are driving too fast on the old road,” Andri says. “This
is an example of archaic road construction that is no
longer relevant to urban planning.” This is in reference
to the fact that the proposed freeway is based on an
idea that has largely been phased out since the 1970s,
due to an increase in traffic congestion at peak hours
and the severity of accidents resulting from higher
speeds. Many major cities, such as New York, Boston
and Portland have implemented freeway removal poli-
cies and demolished these types of roads altogether.
Andri adds that the privilege of those who can af-
ford prime real estate is an invalid argument to him.
“I live next to a road that transports 12,000 vehicles
every day,” he says. “I don’t really have much sympa-
thy for these homeowners who just don’t like a bit of
noise.”
FEELINGS AND ARGUMENTS
The mayor is not only concerned with the residents’
ears but also with their lives. “Our main point is the
matter of traffic and security,” Gunnar says, noting
that the current road includes a blind-head that is par-
ticularly dangerous in bad weather, as well as danger-
ous merging lanes for cars in the residential areas.
Gunnsteinn too is concerned with safety, but he
believes this could be addressed by repairing the old
road. “We have suggested two possibilities: either they
build roundabouts on the old road to make people
drive slower,” he says, “or they could also install mo-
tion-sensitive streetlights at intersections that would
change from green to red when cars come to drive out
of the residential areas.”
He says he is glad that Ögmundur believes that the
town officials will meet with him, although he notes
that his last meeting with the mayor was unproductive.
“His first response to me was, ‘Well! The only other
possibility is to build a tunnel, which would cost 3 bil-
lion ISK and that is so expensive that no one would
dream of doing that,’” Gunnsteinn says. “He had al-
ready made up his mind before speaking to us. It was
ridiculous.”
“They have their feelings and arguments and we
have our ours,” Gunnar says, reiterating his stance that
the old road is unsuitable for repair and the only other
option would be to build an exorbitantly expensive
tunnel. “I think the best solution would be to go ahead
with our plan because we were very careful to take the
environment into account. We don’t think it will be as
damaging to the area as the people opposed think it
will be.”
The opposition doesn’t think it will just be a bit of
damage, though. “It will totally destroy one of the last
remaining ancient lava fields within the metropolitan
area,” Andri says.
My Way Or The Highway
Road construction plans in Garðabær are causing a polite dustup
by Rebecca Louder
I am mere steps into the Gálgahraun lava field before I forget the bustling highway just to the east, connecting the towns of
Garðabær and Hafnarfjörður. There is an almost instant sense of profound reverence to this unusual piece of wilderness, the last
of its kind in the greater Reykjavík area. The lava field was created by the eruption of the volcano Búrfell over 7,000 years ago
and later became the natural muse to one of Iceland’s most iconic painters, Jóhannes S. Kjarval. Aside from some biological re-
fuse like the discarded skeleton of a Christmas tree and a few piles of dog shit, it is perfect, unspoiled and completely peaceful.
I don’t really have much
sympathy for these home-
owners who just don’t like
a bit of noise.
“
„
Photo: Alísa Kalyanova
Iceland | Roads