The snow chaos in southern Sweden has caused major problems on the E22.
During Friday, the Swedish Transport Administration confirmed that the stop on the road is being extended – and Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson (KD) takes the events of the last few days seriously.
– No one can be satisfied with the situation, he says to TV4 Nyheterna.
The snowy weather has hit southern Sweden hard.
On the E22, over 1,000 people have been prevented from getting on and the stop that was supposed to be lifted during the night to Friday was only extended until 1pm. Now the forecast has been moved forward another two hours, reports P4 Malmö house.
“Important to take action”
The Sweden Democrats have directed strong criticism at the Swedish Transport Agency’s handling and argued that far too few resources were deployed. Also too late.
Now Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson (KD) is also commenting on the situation on E22.
– I take the incident seriously. No one can be happy with the situation. It is important that measures are now taken so that society is better equipped for similar snowstorms, he tells TV4 Nyheterna.
He says that the responsible authorities will carry out an initial evaluation on Monday.
– The government and I will follow the evaluation and take part in the conclusions. The government stands ready to make the decisions that may be required.
The Swedish Transport Administration responds to criticism
Bengt Olsson, press manager at the Swedish Transport Administration, responded to the criticism directed at the authority on Friday morning – where he called parts of it “generalised”.
– Even if you say in a general way that Sweden has winter every year, you only have to see how the conditions were on E22 two days ago, it was extreme weather. That should not be forgotten, he said then.
The reason for the current stop is damage to a center rail which was “greater than feared”. The railing was cut up to allow cars to drive from there on the roadway which was more passable and work is currently underway to restore it.