More than 100,000 households in Copenhagen's surrounding municipalities are affected by noise from motorways. It is, among other things, on the Holbæk motorway towards Copenhagen that the mayors want to slow down to a maximum of 80 kilometres per hour.
They believe that noise is harmful to health and write, among other things, in the letter to the ministers that "the overall positive effects should be given more socio-economic weight than the value of arriving a few minutes faster on the highway".
Longer travel time
But with reduced speed, the travel time becomes longer, something that the Danish association for motorists, FDM, does not like.
"When you slow down, it takes longer to get through traffic and that means delays. When there are many drivers, it means a major delay for society as a whole and thus it is economically expensive, says Dennis Lange, chief consultant at FDM.
The Danish Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen from the Liberal Party writes in a written response:
"I have noticed that there are a number of municipalities that would like to see the speed limit on motorways in their immediate area lowered. It is a topic that has previously been discussed among the parties behind the infrastructure deal and I imagine that we can bring the matter up again."
In the feature above, Nanna Bjørnsen tells us what it's like to live close to the motorway.