It’s a geographical database giving access to traffic flows throughout Sweden, expressed in yearly average of cars per day. And there are some interesting details to find:

• There is a significant flow of traffic from both Orust and Tjörn towards Stenungsund and Gothenburg. For instance, 8,990 cars leave Tjörn each day, and 6,780 cars leave Orust, combining with the Myggenäs traffic to a total traffic flow of 16,770 cars per day over the Tjörn bridge. And, of course, most of this traffic takes place in rush hour – on two small lanes. Quite a job for the old bridge!
• Of course, this is nothing compared with E6 traffic around Gothenburg. On a daily average, 52,511 cars travels into Gothenburg from the north. By the time we hit the highway junctions right before the Tingstad tunnel, it’s grown to 68,790 cars. 71,860 cars travel on E20, combining with 96,460 cars on E6 south of downtown. After that, it gets a little difficult to see, but 112,700 cars traveling daily either through or in the immediate vicinity of the Tingstad tunnel.
• A rule-of-thumb is that a freeway lane can take 15,000 cars per day. The Tingstad tunnel has six lanes; yielding a theoretical capacity of 90,000 cars per day, thus falling far short of the actual number of cars (~120,000), of course resulting in severe traffic congestion. Plans are underway to resolve this situation but a permanent solution won’t be in place until 2016 with Marieholmstunneln and Partihallsförbindelsen.

The single most trafficked road in Sweden is the Stockholm freeway Essingeleden, with about 150,000 – 170,000 cars per day. The permanent solution there is called Förbifart Stockholm, and will be completed around 2020. In the meantime, take the train.

A motorbike driver is “speeding along” on the congested freeways in Tokyo.

Ralph Hulett: “Number Five Freeway”

Viaduct from Puxi, Shanghai. An example of a complex freeway stack interchange.