NORWAY CELEBRATES 30th ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL SCENIC ROUTES
When is a road a visitor attraction? When it is one of the Norwegian Scenic Routes.
CELEBRATING THE ROAD TRIP AND THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORWEGIAN SCENIC ROUTES
Terry Stevens
June 2023
‘It is not the destination, it’s the journey’
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -1882) – poet, philosopher and abolitionist.
NORWAY
The way north, Norway: one of Europe’s largest countries with a coastline of 25,15km and with a population of just 5.5m is home to the Nobel Peace Museum and the annual Nobel Peace Prize, the world longest tunnel and is, according to the World Happiness Index one of the worlds happiest places to live. It is a country of stunning mountains scenery indented with over 1,100 fjords and 400,000 lakes.
It is a country almost created for wonderous, unbeatable, road trips – and has elevated the importance of road design and building. In 1981, Arne Beskow wrote in his book ‘Look at Norway’: “Impressive roads have been built, such as Ørneveien and Geiranger, importantly they have brought artistry to road building.” This approach has been pursued with vision, purpose, direction, and momentum over the past thirty years to create the uniquely magnificent Norwegian Scenic Routes.
THE ROAD TRIP
The Norwegian Scenic Routes is the re-imagining of the road trip. The road trip is an ancient, enduring and often profound notion that is a metaphor in philosophy; it is symbol of a journey through life; it has a biblical reference with Isaiah’s ‘highway of holiness’; it encourages exploration of relationships with heritage, cultures, and landscapes; it provokes dreams and stirs memories; and has fuelled our imagination through popular culture.
As early as 1846, Horace Bushnoll of Hartford in Conneticutt wrote of ‘The Day of the Road’ extolling the power of the road as a “physical sign, or symbol, by which you best understand any age of people.’ In 1868 Calvert Vaux, working with the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, created the concept of the US Parkways. Then in 1900, The Automobilisation of the American Landscape encouraged states to develop scenic roads. Twenty-six years later Route 66 established. Car companies built their advertising campaigns around the road trip – in 1950 Chevrolet promoted ‘See the USA in your Chevrolet’
TABLE 1: EXAMPLES OF THE ROAD TRIP IN POPULAR CULTURE
“Get your kicks on Route 66” – Bobby Troup (1946)
‘On the road’ – Jack Karouac (1957)
“On the road again” – Canned Heat (1968)
“Born to be wild” – Steppenwolf (1968)
‘Easy Rider’ – Film (1969)
“Take it Easy’ – Jackson Browne and the Eagles (1972)
“Highway to hell” – AC/DC (1979)
“Cadillac Ranch” – Bruce Springsteen (1980)
‘Thelma & Louise’ – Film (1991)
‘Sideways’ – Film (2004)
“The Road” – Cormac McCarthy (2006)
‘Blue Highway’ – Film (2013)
The scenic parkways movement in the USA and the success of Route 66 spawned a global interest in harnessing the road trip to both domestic and international boost tourism, examples including: South Africa’s Garden Route, The Basque Route, The Great River Route (USA), Canada’s Powder Highway, the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Route in Germany, and Next Exit, Slovenia’s byways not highways project. Recent additions to this list are Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, The Wales Way, Scotland’s North Coast 500, and the innovative Catalan Cultural and Music Routes curated in conjunction with Spotify.
These road trips aspire to reach the heights of the Norwegian Scenic Routes but fail to reach the benchmark set by the Norwegian Public Roads Authority (NPRA) on almost every level.
RAST
In June 2023, Norway celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the wonderous, inspiring, and unique National Scenic Routes project.
According to Karl Otto Ellefsen writing in the introduction to the catalogues for the 30th Anniversary exhibition and Conference held in Oslo, ‘to rest’ – in Norwegian raste – is to take time to recuperate on a journey. He says, “We pause to refresh ourselves or to experience something, punctuating a journey with short breaks.” Historically, the Norwegian word rast was also used to define the distance a traveller would cover before he or she needed to sit down, eat something, and recover their strength. In this way a rast became the distance between two points of rest on the open road and that distance eventually became accepted as 10 kilometres – or a mil in Norwegian - and a full day’s journey was considered to be four mil or four rests.
It is this concept that underpins the formula for the Norwegian Scenic Routes. The routes are about taking great breaks on trips through Norwegian nature for rest, recuperation, immersion, contemplation, refreshment and more – much more.
THE MANDATE
“The Scenic Routes initiative will help to strengthen Norway as a travel destination by providing tourists with experiences that tempt them to visit more frequently and for longer periods. The aim is to strengthen business and populations, not least in rural areas.”
From the National Transport Plans 2010 - 2019 and 2018 – 2029.
In the early 1990’s, there was widely held view in Norway that the country was struggling to compete in the international tourism markets . Indeed, there was concern that the country was losing ground at a time of considerable international tourism growth. The idea of the National Scenic Routes was to help address the issue of enhanced touristic appeal whilst stimulating economic and cultural development in remote and peripheral communities and, at the same time, harness the potential of tourism to diversify and strengthen job creation in the regions.
Stimulating art and architecture, were regarded as ‘traces of our time’ (echoing Horace Bushnoll’s comments of 1846) bringing a unique value of their own. The art and architecture installations were never regarded as being a goal in itself but, essentially, a means of adding value and uplifting the quality of the visitor experience. As a result, in 1993, the Norwegian Parliament (The Storting) asked the Ministry of Transport and Communications to look at the relationship between roads and tourism.
A year later, in 1994, the NPRA began a four-year pilot project that gave four routes the status of National Scenic Routes. After the success of the pilot, The Storting agreed that the project should continue and 60 proposed routes have become 18. It was April 2004 when the NPRA signed the Directive to make the Norwegian Scenic Routes a priority setting the long-tern direction, mission, and principles.
The purpose was to create a new concept of a tourist attraction for the international tourist markets by encouraging road-travelling to be the motivation to visit Norway. The roads through unique and majestic scenery already existed and many of the best places to stop had already been discovered. The decision was made therefore that it would be architecture and art that would enhance the experience based upon the unique atmosphere, environment, and sense of place at every site.
The National Tourist Routes is a marvellous concept executed with all the panache, meticulous planning and creativity that are the hallmarks great tourist attractions. This is an inspirational new interpretation of the great driving routes of the world such as The Garden Route in South Africa, the Great Ocean Road in Australia, the Pacific Coast Highway and, of course, Route 66 (USA).
The existing 18 routes are to be found along the western, indented seaboard of Norway – from
Jaeren and Ryfylke in the south to Havøsund and Varanger in the north high above the Arctic Circle. The routes closely follow the coast and fjords; then they dive inland to cross the grand landscapes of the high mountains before flowing through the fields and woodlands of the valleys and plains of central Norway. They are threads that connect communities and destinations, giving travellers more than using a road simply to get to somewhere else. This is a transformational scheme that has positively impacted on all the communities along their routes.
It has prompted imaginative tourism developments – such as the family-run Juvet Landscape Hotel (at Valldal Trollstein–Geranger Route) – and has also changed the world’s perception of Norway as a country.
This has been a long-term project over 30 years in the making and, there is still another six years to completion. Back in 1993 representatives from the NPRA looked at famous touring routes around the world. The Romantische Strasse in Germany and La Route du Vin in France, along with Route 66 fuelled their imagination as they realised that that roads and tourism go together. – to ‘let the roads become the attraction’. Clear and strict criteria were devised and applied with 60 proposals evaluated before the 18, best of the best, covering nearly 1,650 km were eventually selected.
In Norway, there is a long tradition for adapting buildings and structures to meet the harsh climatic conditions and the arduous terrain. Clearly, Norwegian architects and designers have drawn on this tradition in their efforts to enhance and elevate the tourist experience along these routes. The goal is that the architectural and artistic interventions should not only help to facilitate and enhance the visitor’s experience of nature, but also become an attraction in their own right. One author has commented on the role of these installations rhetorically asking: ‘How can you improve a view that’s already sublime? Norway’s untouched coasts, fjords and mountain valleys offer some of the most dramatic vistas in Europe, but by their nature they are pretty difficult to get to. How do you help people appreciate a wilderness without it ceasing to be one?’
The suitably apt Norwegian response to this challenge can be traced back to the country’s great modernist architect, Sverre Fehn. His philosophy was that architecture, if carefully considered as an incision on the landscape, can easily serve to elevate nature without competing with it and, in so doing, it becomes an experience in itself.
The tone for the project was set in the two pilot projects with the bold work of two young architects: Jan Olav Jensen and Carl-Vigge Hølmebakk in designing the routes at Sognefjellet and Gamle Strynefjellsvegen combining extraordinary architecture inspired by the raw landscape with thought-provoking art. These two routes remain amongst the most popular of them all. As a result, the decision was made to invite over 40 Norwegian architects and artists along with a small number of internationally-renowned personalities, such as the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and the American–French artist, Louise Bourgeois, to design amenities and the ‘pauses’ along each of the tourist routes.
The artworks are there to reinforce the character of the route and to encourage the tourist to think deeply about what they are experiencing. To date, more than 50 architects, landscape architects, designers, and artists — some of whom are young while others are well-established – have set to work. The emphasis has been placed on innovation and creativity, and with this focus Norway has managed to unleash an extraordinary creative force; many young architects have earned wide acclaim for their innovative tourist route projects. The whole scheme is overseen by an independent Architecture Council to ensure quality and impartiality.
The results are often jaw-dropping be they clever, witty, designs for simple viewpoints and funky toilet blocks as at Akkarvikodden (Lofoten) or Jektvik (Helgelandskysten), or outrageous suspended viewpoints as at Trollstigen GeirangerTrollstigen), Vøringfossen (Hardangervidda) or at Stegastein (Aurlandsfjellet). In some locations a very profound story is told through contemporary architecture combining with art. This is very definitely the case at Steilneset (Varanger) with a haunting memorial in memory of the 91 victims of witch trials in Finnmak designed by Peter Zumthor in collaboration with artist, Louise Bourgeois, and the narrator Professor Liv Helene Willumsen.
There are now more than 170 initiatives, large and small along the 2,240 km of the 18 existing routes involving over 50 architects, landscape architects and artists. By 2029 a further 50 art and architecture projects will be completed.
This was a bold and ambitious project from the outset and designed to touch every corner of the country. From the outset it was realised that central management was the only way to deliver an integrated approach bringing together many different interests. The NPRA recognised that from the start a separate organisation would be required to oversee the project. In 1998, the civil engineer and jazz musician, Jan Andresen, was appointed to head up this special entity based in Lillehammer – he has been the captain of the fourteen-strong core team that has delivered the project throughout the period 1998 – 2023.
In April 2023, the NPRA announced the appointment of Silje Myhre Amundsen as the new Project Director for Norwegian Scenic Routes. She takes over from Jan Andresen, who has led the Scenic Route work for 30 years. Amundsen graduated as a landscape architect from NMBU, Ås, and BOKU, Vienna and, since 2020, has worked as a Project Manager and Route Manager in the Norwegian Scenic Routes section at Lillehammer. Her objective is clear, “I will be continuing the good cooperation with architects, landscape architects, contractors, road owners, the tourism industry and other stakeholders, to maintain and develop the unique Norwegian Scenic Route concept with art and architecture in magnificent scenery as its distinctive feature.”
She continues, “We have just hired ten new firms of architects and landscape architects, and I am very much looking forward to the collaboration ahead. Together with the Architecture Council and my colleagues, we will continue to plan and build exciting projects of high quality.” She also emphasises the importance of the Scenic Routes Forum as an important link between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the tourism industry in the Scenic Routes work.”
FUNDING THE INITIATIVE
The total State investment over the three decades of the initiative, including the initial 1994 tourism pilots amounts to over 4.37bn Norwegian krone (£ $400m, and Є) with a further 0.55m NK provided by local authorities. By the time the National Plan ends in 2029 the total spent will exceed 5.9bnNK of which 5.3bn will have come from the State via the Ministry of Transport budget.
Over the 36year period this means an average annual investment by the State of 146mNK at 2023 rates. In terms of comparable the NPRA highlights that the new National Museum in Oslo cost 6.15bn in 2022, the Oslo Opera House cost 3.7bnNK in 2008 and the recently opened Munch Museum 2.3bnNK.
THE FOCUS
The Scenic Routes project has always had six main areas of focus:
1. The vast majority of the interventions are rest areas or viewpoints that range in scope from a simple bench and table to large landscape projects with high-capacity service buildings.
2. Attractions and tourism honey spots where nature sets the theme- for example Vøringsfossen, Trollstigen, Gjende and, the soon to be completed, Lǻtefoss
3. Special interventions inspired by history such as the one at Steilnset – describe below.
4. Art projects developed along 15 of the routes, three of which integrate artworks from the pioneering Artscape Nordland programme – seen as a forerunner of the National Scenic Routes developed in the early 1990s.
5. An eclectic, miscellaneous category that is a mix of bird hides, cyclist shelters and local landmarks, car parks, toilets and local information boards.
6. Planning support to ensure and facilitate private, voluntary and municipal projects along the routes.
It has not been all plain sailing. Over the three decades there have been many dilemmas and reflections on every aspect of the project – about the content, design, scale and impacts of the installations; about the materials used; the about quality and practical issues in respect of the often challenging climatic and geological conditions; and, increasingly about carrying capacity and overtourism as the most popular sites.
Most of the traffic along these routes is, inevitably, local. And post-COVID domestic tourism has dominated the overnight stays. International tourists using the routes has been notoriously difficult to monitor especially given the high number of day trips out from the cruise ships visiting ports along some of the routes.
Media coverage has been impressive. Between 2011 and 2019 there were almost 14,000 media items with an estimate publicity value of 306mNK Over the past two years there has already been a further 3,700 print and screen items.
In terms of the economic impact, research highlights a significant uplift in turnover for businesses and communities served by the routes, especially following the completion of a major art or architectural installation.
Quality ambitions have always been high with the Architectural Council, the Arts Council and the Quality Council acting as critical friends and watchdogs throughout the process. The Norwegian Scenic Routes website summarises the quality requirement: “The architecture must be bold and innovative while at the same time communicating the mood of the scene. In this way the architecture embraces the landscape not just the built environment meaning that project require both landscape architects and architects. Together they must create something unique – a one of a kind and reflective of the ‘Oslo School’ of architecture and design to create distinct places.
The investment in art was at the heart of the initiative from the outset and established as a separate programme led by a curator and an advisory committee. The aim is to introduce at least one piece of art to every route thus creating what has been terms ‘ a permanent museum of contemporary art across Norway.’
EXPLORING THE SCENIC ROUTES
Good starting points for an initial exploration of some of the southern routes are Bergen and Ålesund.
Bergen is Norway's second city straddling the confluence of a number fjords and hemmed in by steep, forested slopes. It is photogenic for both the contemporary neighbourhoods (its commercial streets, parks, and civic buildings), and the older, historic areas of Bryggen, the famous historic timber wharf with UNESCO World Heritage Site status and nearby cobbled street with their white-painted wooden houses. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord', and the city is surrounded by mountains; indeed, Bergen is known as the 'city of seven mountains'. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, 'the green meadow among the mountains'. It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League.
Ålesund is situated on the coast at the end of the E136, 240 kilometres (150 miles) north-east of Bergen, and is adjacent to the Hjørund and Geiranger fjords – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a seaport noted for its concentration of Art Nouveau architecture and occupies seven of the islands with the town centre located on islands Aspøya and Nørvøya. The town has a rapidly developing culinary scene with a wealth of new innovative restaurants and bars and artisan producers accessing the best seafood and local produce.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Frank Lloyd Wright (1957): “The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living, and to give reasons, rhyme and meaning to life.”
John Steinbeck (1922 – 1968): “People don’t take trips, trips take people.”
