Today is an important day here in Norway. Some Mr. Barack Obama comes for a visit to collect some Nobel Peace Prize, creating all sorts of havoc in the transportation system of our small capital along the way. I have a couple of friends who are flying out from Oslo airport this morning, five minutes before the scheduled arrival of said honored guest. I bet they and many other travellers will expect some heavy delays this morning.
This takes me back to 2005 when I was visiting Bandung, Indonesia,. My visit happpened to coincide with the conference marking the 50th anniversary of the first Asian-African Conference that took place in Bandung in 1955. On my way back to Jakarta for my flight home on the same day the conference ended we decided not to take the four-lane freeway, but the scenic route, a two-lane two-way highway across Puncak, a famous mountain pass with tea plantations.
Bad idea, as it turned out. Even by normal standards Indonesian traffic is unpredictable, so we allowed for plenty of lead time to make it to Jakarta in time. However, as soon as we had passed Puncak, some two hours from Jakarta, and bang, we entered a total gridlock for no apparent reason.
One hour ticked away, another hour went and we had barely moved, and I could see my flight departing without me. Then, suddenly, traffic started moving…fast…very fast, and to my amazement I discovered that our two-way two-lane highway had turned into a one-way two-lane highway, with traffic police at every intersection, frantically waving their arms to have us speed even faster to dissolve this gridlock. This went on all the way to Bogor, where we linked up with the freeway, and this is a distance of some 50 kms or 30 miles…just imagine the manpower it takes to man all intersections along the way, let alone the logistics and communications necessary to make this happen.
I have no idea what happened, but my guess is that some state dignitary visiting the conference was also on his way back to Jakarta on that road and had gotten stuck in the same gridlock, and the only way to free the dignitary was to rush all the cars to the freeway in order to clear the highway.
A similar situation will take place on the freeway going from Oslo airport this morning where President Obama’s motorcade will make its way to the city center. That’s a distance of some 45kms, but this event has been well planned for. Hopefully. Nonetheless, the impacts will most certainly be noticeable.
Related
- husdal.com: Oslo airport shutdown
