The paving of a 15-kilometre [9.3-mile] section of road to the town of Borgarfjörður eystri, East Iceland, marks a turning point for transport in East Iceland. When it is completed, all of the towns in the Fljótsdalshérað region will be connected to paved roads.
The road in question runs north from Egilsstaðir through Úthérað. Héraðsverk took on the project for ISK 666 million [$5.28 million/€4.47 million] and constructions crews are getting started at the site now. “There’s been a lot of traffic, but it is declining now,” project manager Viðar Hauksson told Stöð 2. “So now we can go full steam.”
Residents of Borgarfjörður eystri campaigned for a paved road to the isolated town for years, even paving a section themselves in protest of the government’s inaction. The new paved section will for the most part follow the route of the current gravel road, Viðar says, though the new road will be wider and easier for locals and tourists to drive year-round.
Borgarfjörður eystri, population 98, features a café, hotel, fish factory, and puffin colony.
