On Wednesday a tour bus carrying 43 German pensioners rolled onto its side in Þingvellir National Park. Although nobody was injured in the accident it has sparked a renewed conversation about the condition of roads in the National Park, many of which are very narrow, lack shoulders and were not made for the level of traffic that has come with growing tourism. Many of the roads are not designed to carry large tour buses.
Read more: Nobody hurt as tour bus rolls onto its side in Þingvellir national park
Tour operators and bus drivers have on numerous occasions warned that the roads in the National Park can't handle the traffic and that a serious accident was waiting to happen.
Environmental damage will be limited
The Icelandic National Road and Coastal Service has announced that the stretch of road where the tour bus rolled over will soon be rebuilt with broader lanes and shoulders. According to the local newspaper Morgunblaðið the first phase of the project is to strengthen 3-4 km (2-2.5 mi) of narrow road leading east from the visitor center through the forest on the northern edge of Þingvallavatn lake. This road has numerous bends which are too narrow for large cars to meet.
A project manager with the IRCA told Morgunblaðið that the project posed numerous challenges, not least because a larger road will come at the cost of destroying parts of the beautifully forested lava field.
It's going to be very tricky, and we haven't really figured out how best to strengthen the road. But we hope to be able to do this without too severe environmental damage.
On Wednesday a tour bus carrying 43 German pensioners rolled onto its side in Þingvellir National Park. Although nobody was injured in the accident it has sparked a renewed conversation about the condition of roads in the National Park, many of which are very narrow, lack shoulders and were not made for the level of traffic that has come with growing tourism. Many of the roads are not designed to carry large tour buses.
Read more: Nobody hurt as tour bus rolls onto its side in Þingvellir national park
Tour operators and bus drivers have on numerous occasions warned that the roads in the National Park can't handle the traffic and that a serious accident was waiting to happen.
Environmental damage will be limited
The Icelandic National Road and Coastal Service has announced that the stretch of road where the tour bus rolled over will soon be rebuilt with broader lanes and shoulders. According to the local newspaper Morgunblaðið the first phase of the project is to strengthen 3-4 km (2-2.5 mi) of narrow road leading east from the visitor center through the forest on the northern edge of Þingvallavatn lake. This road has numerous bends which are too narrow for large cars to meet.
A project manager with the IRCA told Morgunblaðið that the project posed numerous challenges, not least because a larger road will come at the cost of destroying parts of the beautifully forested lava field.
It's going to be very tricky, and we haven't really figured out how best to strengthen the road. But we hope to be able to do this without too severe environmental damage.
