– Mainly it’s about making this area available to Stockholmers, says Lars Strömgren (MP), traffic councilor in the city of Stockholm, to SVT News.
The goal for the red-green majority in Stockholm is to reduce car driving in the city by 30 percent by 2030.
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That is why Sveavägen is closed
According to Lars Strömgren, the reason why they have chosen to close Sveavägen to car traffic is that the street has long been affected by bus driving and disturbances, which has disturbed residents and businesses.
Instead, when the street is closed, for example, it should offer opportunities to sit down, as well as buy food and drink from various restaurants and food trucks.
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A “balance between transport and stay”
Regarding whether the closure makes it difficult for the city’s motorists, Lars Strömgren believes that the streets have been reserved for cars for a very long time.
– Now we are trying to create a balance between transport, and also stay, he says to SVT.
It is not the entire Sveavägen that is subject to closure, but rather the section between Kungstensgatan and Odengatan.
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Closed for four weekends
The part of the street in question will not be closed for the whole summer, but it is about four weekends when they plan to test the concept.
After the summer, they will evaluate how the suspension has worked, and whether more car-free weekends can be introduced in the future. It will also be investigated whether it may be relevant to close off a larger part of Sveavägen than is currently the case.
The first weekend that Sveavägen will be closed is already a month from now, on June 15 and 16. The remaining weekends when the street will be closed are August 17 to 18, August 24 to 25, and September 21 to 22.
During these weekends, the section of Sveavägen will be closed to car traffic from 22:00 on Friday evening until 05:00 on Monday morning.
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