[N] Roads in Norway • Veier i Norge

[Verso]

Originally Posted by x-type

the weirdest toll stations that i have ever seen! now i ask myself: are our toll stations with roofs and all the other things really neccessary?

Haha, true, and you don't even have to pay, if you're by motorbike!

[Wallaroo]

Originally Posted by x-type

the weirdest toll stations that i have ever seen! now i ask myself: are our toll stations with roofs and all the other things really neccessary?

Even weirder is it that their toll stations are placed on ordinary rural roads, instead of on motorways only. I have never seen that anywhere else - kinda crazy I think.

[ChrisZwolle]

Yeah, a lot of Norwegian roads are tolled from time to time. I must say, their infrastructure is so expensive, you have to pay for it, but why not a toll vignette like Switzerland?

[NorthStar77]

I don't understand why the toll stations are weird, we have those all over the country. Are toll-stations other places manual only? We don't pay toll to employ loosers to sit there, we pay for better roads! The toll-roads around Oslo will soon be all automatic. If you try to drive through without paying, you'll get a hefty fine, atleast if it's a Norwegian car, don't know how it's solved for foreign licence plates.

Originally Posted by Wallaroo

Even weirder is it that their toll stations are placed on ordinary rural roads, instead of on motorways only. I have never seen that anywhere else - kinda crazy I think.

Yeah, that is a source of much debate many places. There can be more reasons for this. One is to avoid that people drive detours just to avoid paying. That could lead to small local roads beeing congested, but most importantly less income for the toll-station Another reason is that some for projects, collecting money via toll is started years before construction even begins. This is to reduce the cost of the projects, they need to loan less money, and the toll-station won't have to stand there for so many years. Most people that lives near these toll-stations are usually very much against this setup, naturally. This has led to a big rise in the populist party that is against all these toll-roads, Progress party. In Tønsberg for example, I think they got 40% in the last election.

[x-type]

Originally Posted by NorthStar77

I don't understand why the toll stations are weird, we have those all over the country. Are toll-stations other places manual only? We don't pay toll to employ loosers to sit there, we pay for better roads! The toll-roads around Oslo will soon be all automatic. If you try to drive through without paying, you'll get a hefty fine, atleast if it's a Norwegian car, don't know how it's solved for foreign licence plates.

i didn't mean to say anything negative about it. i just said that we are all got used to large toll stations with roofs, with a lot of lights, even cups with flowers (very common here) and i allways found it normal, but now i see that toll station can exist without all those things, and i have never been thinking about it!

(this about loosers who are sitting there and collecting the money is absolutely true but there is (actually, was) even worse - loosers who've been giving tickets while we didn't have automates for that

[NorthStar77]

^Ahh, I see. Well, some more flowers wouldn't hurt, I guess. The station in Sande(in the photo) is relatively new, so it still looks rather ok, but the stations we have around Oslo is getting old, 17 years I think. Paint is falling off, and they are getting rusty. But as mentioned, they'll bee soon replaced.

btw, thanks igorlan for posting the photos. I've driven this piece of road and taken the bus many times, as I am from Kristiansand. But I've never taken any photos while driving. Come to think of it I've taken some photos from a bus once, 2-3 years ago iirc. I'll post some here soon

[Wallaroo]

Originally Posted by Chriszwolle

Yeah, a lot of Norwegian roads are tolled from time to time. I must say, their infrastructure is so expensive, you have to pay for it, but why not a toll vignette like Switzerland?

I like the Italian toll system best - works perfect! You get a ticket at the onramp, and pay for the amount of km you drove at the offramp.

[wyqtor]

Originally Posted by Wallaroo

I like the Italian toll system best - works perfect! You get a ticket at the onramp, and pay for the amount of km you drove at the offramp.

I like it too, but from the signs in the pictures above I understand that in Norway they take a snapshot of your car number and then send you the bill by mail - did I understand correctly? If so, I find it very convenient and practical. And the best thing: no traffic jams at toll booths!

Out of curiousity, are foreign-numbered cars handled in the same way?

[Norsko]

Originally Posted by wyqtor

(...) Out of curiousity, are foreign-numbered cars handled in the same way?

That is the thought, and since this system has been in use for some time, I guess it works out quite as it is supposed to. I have read in the news about some German cars getting away without paying though, something about the German police having other priorities (would you belive it ? )

[x-type]

Originally Posted by wyqtor

I like it too, but from the signs in the pictures above I understand that in Norway they take a snapshot of your car number and then send you the bill by mail - did I understand correctly? If so, I find it very convenient and practical. And the best thing: no traffic jams at toll booths!

Out of curiousity, are foreign-numbered cars handled in the same way?

but if thatßs so, why are there manual paying lanes? wouldnßt those be unneccessary?

[Norsko]

Originally Posted by x-type

but if thatßs so, why are there manual paying lanes? wouldnßt those be unneccessary?

The toll station with lanes for manual payment (photo 27 post 61) is situated on the E 18 motorway wich was constructed about ten years ago, the automatic toll station (photo 43 post 61) though, is just a couple of years old, built after this new payment system was developed and accommodated to the Norwegian Autopass system.

[wyqtor]

Originally Posted by x-type

but if thatßs so, why are there manual paying lanes? wouldnßt those be unneccessary?

I guess they didn't get to replace all of them just yet. Obviously they need quite high resolution cameras in order to clearly capture the number on the plate, cameras which weren't exactly available until recently. Probably they will soon replace the "manual" toll booths with the new camera ones. They need to be improved especially if they are around big cities like Oslo .

An interesting thing would be to make a computer program that "reads" car numbers, so the system would be fully automated, but that's not exactly an easy task, it would involve pattern recognition and advanced statistics.

[Norsko]

Originally Posted by wyqtor

I guess they didn't get to replace all of them just yet. Obviously they need quite high resolution cameras in order to clearly capture the number on the plate, cameras which weren't exactly available until recently. Probably they will soon replace the "manual" toll booths with the new camera ones. They need to be improved especially if they are around big cities like Oslo .

An interesting thing would be to make a computer program that "reads" car numbers, so the system would be fully automated, but that's not exactly an easy task, it would involve pattern recognition and advanced statistics.

You are very right! In fact that was a major argument for changing our car licenseplates (the fonts) one year ago, so many bills were mailed the wrong persons because such cameras was not always able to differ the digits 0, 3, 6, 8 and 9 when captured in 90 - 130 km/h.

[ChrisZwolle]

Originally Posted by wyqtor

An interesting thing would be to make a computer program that "reads" car numbers, so the system would be fully automated, but that's not exactly an easy task, it would involve pattern recognition and advanced statistics.

That exists for many years in the Netherlands. Fines from fixed speed traps and stretch controles are fully automated. I think it exists elswhere too.

[wyqtor]

Originally Posted by Chriszwolle

That exists for many years in the Netherlands. Fines from fixed speed traps and stretch controles are fully automated. I think it exists elswhere too.

Not here in Eastern Europe, that's for sure ! I had no idea there were such advanced systems in the Netherlands, or anywhere else for that matter . You guys would probably have the best motorway system in the world if it were also adapted to current capacity!

[Norsko]

Originally Posted by Chriszwolle

That exists for many years in the Netherlands. Fines from fixed speed traps and stretch controles are fully automated. I think it exists elswhere too.

We ve got those speed traps everyehere! They stand closer (at least almost ) than light posts along our roads

[NorthStar77]

^ they can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

Some photos from the bus Kristiansand-Oslo, taken with my old crappy camera a couple of years ago. It's not so much highway-photos, as it is view from the highway-photos, wich may not be so interesting in this forum.

Of the 330 km between Kristiansand and Oslo, only about 100 km is class A motorway(4 lanes), less than 100 km is class B motorway(2-3 lanes), and the rest is old roads in poor condition. In a few years, we'll have more than 50 km new class A motorway though.

Topdalsfjord in Kristiansand


Varodd-bridges in Kristiansand


Gas station at Lillesand, E18 on the left...


Driving over a brigde in Telemark


Lake Farris at Larvik


This cafe is now abandoned, as a new motorway is under construction that will replace this piece of E18.


Typical south-eastern Norway countryside






Finally on the motorway!


Same cafe as shown by igorlan


Typical view


Same toll-station as shown by igorlan, only from the other side


Drammen


Asker trainstation


The old IKEA before it got renovated


Sandvika, where I work


A special house


One of the countless office-buildings lying near E18 out of Oslo westwards. This is Tandberg HQ, I think.


Another one, this is Software Innovation




At the toll-station in Oslo


At Skøyen


Mansions in western parts of Oslo, some used as embassies




Coming out of Festningstunnellen(the fortress tunnel)


Oslo stock exhange


Oslo central station and Posthuset


On Bispelokket, a roundabout raised above E18




I hope they were of some interest

[ChrisZwolle]

It's not so much highway-photos, as it is view from the highway-photos, wich may not be so interesting in this forum.

That's okay. Not only the road is interesting, but also the setting!

[wyqtor]

Some of us (i.e., me! ) are here on this forum as much for the actual motorways as for pictures of other places!

If you have more photos, do not hesitate to post them when you have time! Norway is such a beautiful country and, the more pictures, the better!

[x-type]

i allways remember the book Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy when there is said something about creationing the world and the part where creators got full freedom is - Norway! fantastic terrain!!! and cities looks really nice, i really like those pix!!!