The issue of the E22 past Söderköping has been a major issue for many years.
Earlier this autumn, several municipalities gathered in a meeting with the Swedish Transport Administration because, above all, the municipality of Söderköping, tired of the work, has dragged on.
The reason is that the new haul has had to wait for investigations into hazel snakes.
That after a find very close to the planned road.
The County Administrative Board has now taken a position on whether the hazel snake is affected by the planned road.
- We have now gone through the extensive data that the Swedish Transport Administration and the municipality of Söderköping have produced.
The main question here has been to determine whether the hazel snake risks being affected in a way that means that the prohibitions in the species protection ordinance are actualized, says Adam Bergner, nature conservation officer at the County Administrative Board of Östergötland in a press release.
According to the county administrative board, there is no risk that the planned road will conflict with hazel on the stretch past Söderköping's urban area, but an exception is the western extension of the traffic junction at Slussporten.
- This is a critical place and we assess together that the intrusion into this environment is so serious that it is impossible to avoid requiring an exemption test.
The possibility of being granted such an exemption is small and we therefore advise the Swedish Transport Administration and the municipality of Söderköping not to proceed with this alternative, says Adam Bergner.
The County Administrative Board now recommends that the Swedish Transport Administration and the municipality of Söderköpign go ahead and investigate an alternative that means that the road is built in a tunnel through the rock.
- E22 in its new layout is a very important project locally, regionally and nationally.
The County Administrative Board therefore attaches great importance to the continued dialogue and assesses that the Swedish Transport Administration's schedule with construction start in 2024 has good opportunities to be met, says Carl Fredrik Graf, Governor of Östergötland.