Watch out! Norwegian roads will shread your tyres!!

There is one thing which has been bothering me ever since I started driving in Bergen in 2009 - it's the quality of the Norwegian roads.

They are just so horrible. There is no other word to describe the roads here. They are full of unexpected pothholes, huge cracks and uneven surfaces that you run the risk of seriously damaging your car should you drive into them at high speed.

The hole in Kanalveien - drive into one and win a new tyre!
(You'll have to pay for it yourself)

Norway is a wealthy country thanks to all the oil money - yet, they are not spending nearly as enough money on maintaining their roads. As a result, the road quality in some cases, are comparible to what I saw in Russia - a disgrace for a country that has a higher Per Capita Income than the United States!

Mind you, the Norwegian bridges and tunnels are spectacular, since the country has a long coastline with lots of islands in the fjords. Some of those bridges and tunnels are actually amazing to drive through.

But the roads! Look at the photo on the right; It is Kanalveien in Bergen. The hole in the picture measures about 10 inches wide, 8 inches long, and 3 inches deep. Its not a big hole, but if you drive into one at 50km/h you will blow your tyre for sure.



These are not the craters of the moon, but you need a moon
buggy if you want to drive over them in comfort

The second photo is in a residential street. Actually, you will find such roads in many residential areas around Norway.

Nothing seems to be done about them, and the holes only get bigger and bigger...until they spread so much that you end up with one gigantic hole which will suck up your entire car.

The holes in the third photo gets mended about once or twice a year, but the job is so poorly done that within a couple of months of reparation, the holes reappear, bigger than ever.

This same hole has been mended many times, but they just
keep reappearing

In many developed countries, if the road workers did such a shoddy job of reparing roads, they will be fired on the spot. It must be only in Norway that they get away with it.




This cobblestone road has certainly seen better days. Now, it
looks like a moon landscape

Check out the picture on the bottom; its taken by an old church close to the Bergen city centre. It doesn't show well in the pictures, but the bumps are so big that driving over them in a regular passenger car you would actually risk damaging the bottom. I have actually seen many cars scraping the bottom on this road.

The most suitable vehicle here would be the moon buggy from the Apollo missions. I'm being serious here...


Do you have any examples of bad roads in your neighbourhood? What is your local government doing (or not doing) about them? Let me know!