Mountain crossings closed for Christmas

Christmas traffic is peaking, and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration encourages people to drive carefully during the Yuletide and make note of which mountain crossings are closed.

All the mountain crossings in southern Norway were open for traffic on Saturday afternoon.

County road 51 over Valdresflye in Oppland, is closed on Christmas Eve before it reopens the following day, the Public Roads Centre East informs.

– Valdresflye closes Christmas Eve at 4 pm until at 12 noon on Christmas Day, they inform.

County road 55 over Sognefjellet in Sogn & Fjordane and Oppland is closed for the winter. The same applies to County road 63 between Geiranger and Langvatn in Oppland and Møre & Romsdal.

Slippery stretches

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration warns motorists about slippery stretches on the European Route 6 at Dombås. On Saturday it is 12 degrees Celcius below freezing, with both stretches where it is bare and areas where it is snow and ice cover.

Friday there was convoys on national road 7 on Hardangervidda due to bad weather. Saturday it is minus nine degrees centigrade and the weather is fine in the area. Also on the county road 50 between Hol and Aurland in Buskerud there were convoys on Friday, but here traffic was as just as on a normal Saturday. It is minus six degrees and clear skies in the area.

Demand for convoys

If the car is poorly shod or not adequately equipped for the winter mountain, there is a risk of being held back if there are convoys.

When the mountain passes are only kept open for convoys, it is usually quite nasty weather and driving conditions. Therefore, demands are made of those who are to participate, writes Motor.

– When there is a lot of traffic over the mountain and there are convoys, the waiting time can be several hours to get over. You may consider to postpone the trip or choose another route, says Birte Roverudseter in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.