Oslo is the city known for the best quality of life in Europe, and the city is all prepared to maintain or even improve that reputation. The city will build 60 km of cycling tracks and completely ban cars inside the city center by 2019.
The Norwegian authorities are investing in alternate transportation systems like buses and tram networks spread over the entire city. Noway’s council allegiance between Labour, Green, and Socialist Left parties have agreed with the plan of adding 60 km of cycling tracks costing around $1 billion. The city is growing at a fast pace, and traffic congestion is increasing along with air pollution. To save Oslo’s reputation as the city with the best life quality in the world, authorities are planning to make the city entirely car free. Other cities in Europe like Dublin, Paris, Madrid, and Milan are working along the same lines, but on a much smaller scale.
The 2017 goal for the city has to fully remove all the street parking within the city center and replace it with pedestrian walks and cycling lanes. The Norwegian authorities will make additional arrangements for cars that will carry disabled people, and vehicles for delivering goods to stores. The lead negotiator for the Green Party in Oslo, Lan Marie Nguyen Berg said, “We want to have a car-free center. We want to make it better for pedestrians and cyclists. It will be better for shops and everyone.” Oslo’s city council with conduct further consultations to analyze the cities that have previously implemented temporary car bans. The city will run trials to figure out all implications of car-free transition. London has imposed congestion pricing to discourage people from using cars for city travel, and Oslo is considering taking the same steps.
Getting rid of all cars in the city of Oslo is just one of the steps in the country’s continuous effort in maintaining it as one of the cleanest and most sustainable countries in the world. Norway uses renewable energies like solar and wind power to provide most of their energy needs. It also has plans to eliminate all petrol powered cars by 2025. Norwegians take their environment very seriously, so we can expect even more drastic lifestyle changes in the future.
Oslo is progressing towards its goal gradually, and the development is featured in a short documentary:
