Stockholm: Norrström, Söderström and Slussen

The old town of Stockholm is situated on a relatively small island, with a freshwater lake to the west, the salty sea to the east, and (until 1642) strong currents to the north and south. In 1642, locks were built in the south. Today, the whole area around that lock is called "Slussen" - literally, "the lock" - so while there are countless of locks in Sweden, if anyone says "the lock", they would typically refer ... actually, not to the central lock in Stockholm, but to the traffic area surrounding it. The current north of the island is also regulated, to preserve more freshwater; it's being used as a drinking water reservoir. I had roughly an hour available for a walk in Stockholm previous Saturday, so I spent it in this area.

Some notes ...

• All links in the text that aren't marked with destination leads to Swedish Wikipedia, as I believe the Swedish Wikipedia has most information about those places. Most of those articles also exists in other languages.
• You're encouraged to check the map, if you click on the "geohack"-links under the photos, you'll see a map with the position recorded in the photo. The position is not always correct.
• Full resolution photos should be available on the "full quality"-link. The photos are distributed through IPFS, it may be a bit slow, if the photos doesn't load at once, then ... try again.

Norrström and the parliament

The parliament is situated on a small island Helgeandsholmen, situated in Norrström, north of the old town (Gamla Stan) - or, to be more exact, north of Stadsholmen, the island where (most of) the old town is situated. Helgeandsholmen has been expanded slightly over the centuries, originally it was three smaller islets.

Those photos are taken from Riksbron north of the parliament. This pedestrian bridge is connecting Helgeandsholmen with the new city center at Norrmalm. There is a sluice gate under the bridge for regulating the water flow. As we can see on the photos there is very little current, most likely the sluice gate is allowing only small amounts of water to pass. Wikipedia says a lot about the previous iron bridge from 1931, but it doesn't say when the bridge was replaced or why - though it may have been due to many Stockholmers thinking the previous bridge lacked some ... dignity. The previous bridge got the nickname "Råttfällan" (rat trap) due to the look.

The first photo is towards the east and the parallell bridge Norrbro, built 1807. By now we have the freshwater body behind us, and some few hundred metres in front of us there is the salty sea.

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Turning around, there is Vasabron, it used to be the mainroad between the old town and the northern mainland (Norrmalm). It's a longer bridge, since it doesn't go via Helgeandsholmen. The bridge was opened in 1878. In the middle of the bridge there is some trees and some buildings, this is the island Strömsborg, it's accessible through Strömsborgbron, a small "side bridge" going from the middle of Vasabron and onto this island.

Another thing to note is the markers giving a strong signal to boats that they should not proceed (there were signs as well, but I guess it's easy to ignore signs). I didn't understand it at first, but now that I've read they have sluices under the bridge it's more understandable. Also, today it was relatively quiet - but sometimes this place looks like a waterfall.

position: geo:59.328281,18.067213 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 12:28:43 localtime - full quality

Now I've crossed Helgeandsholmen, and I'm standing on Stallbron, the current bridge was constructed in 1904, but expanded in the 80s. Reading the Wikipedia article now, I can see that there actually is two levels on this bridge, there is an enclosed walkway under it, Rännarbanan, for usage by the parliament. The view is towards the west and it's still Vasabron behind.

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There are some sluice gates here restricting the water flow - here we can clearly see some of the mechanics. I suppose there is a wall hidden under the water and perhaps 10-20 cm of free water above the wall. However, since there is no visible current I guess the lake level must be pretty low due to the dry summer (perhaps it hasn't been raining as much in Svealand as in Norway) and/or that it was high water while I was going for the walk.

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"Omtänksomhet istället for misstänksomhet", a poster that wasn't removed after the election. The Pirate Party was established in Sweden, later sister parties have popped up pretty much all over the world - they've done it particularly well on Iceland. They got 7k votes in the Swedish election, that's only 0.1% of the votes. Incidentally, this day I was wearing a Norwegian Pirate Party t-shirt with the slogan "digital rights are also human rights". I had a brief look down that hole but didn't get much smart from it. Came to think, I probably should have removed the poster, it looks quite junky by now.

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On my return trip, I went back over Vasabron. Here is a photo of Norstedts (an old publishing house) at Riddarholmen.

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Centralbron, by today the main road for car traffic passing the central Stockholm. Strömsborg and Strömsborgbron can also be seen on this photo:

position: geo:59.326843,18.065027 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 13:12:47 localtime - full quality

And finally, a view back to the two bridges I passed in the beginning of this post, Riksbron and Stallbron:

position: geo:59.327301,18.064491 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 13:14:34 localtime - full quality

For those specially interessted, I have two "bonus photos". It seems like with my new phone, photos taken with "digital zoom" does indeed contain more details than photos taken without zoom. On this photo one can clearly see the sluice gate sticking up from the water under Riksbron, some small waves in front of the gate and still water behind. I wish I could read what's written on the sign for boaters; I'd need a binocular or optical zoom to see that. On this photo the Rännarbanan is clearly visible.

Old town

Next, a walk through old town. The old town of Stockholm has quite some charm, it's really worth to take a walk there. I took no photos on my first walk through - I think there were too much tourists this day, and also I wanted to keep this post maritime-themed. I'll leave it to other people to make a post of the old town :-)

On my return trip I decided to take one photo. The portal up there looked much better from the top side of it, but I didn't want to take a photo while walking there due to all the other tourists taking photos and selfies there.

position: geo:59.324542,18.068737 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 13:08:46 localtime - full quality

Slussen

At the south side of the old town we get to Slussen, which is between Stadsholmen and Södermalm. It was not entirely as I had expected it; the whole area was a giant construction site. As I mentioned earlier, they built a lock system here in 1642 - but as traffic and sizes of the ships grew, it was needed to replace the lock - over and over again. Now they are at it again - they are in the process of building the fifth lock. There were big walls on the bridge with some few windows towards the construction site. Those two photos are taken through plastic windows, hence they may not be completely sharp, and you may find some reflections.

Construction work - for the fifth lock

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Walking a bit further, I decided to try to take photos above the wall. It was a bit difficult as I couldn't see the screen - but I managed somehow.

position: geo:59.320541,18.071527 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 12:47:09 localtime - full quality

Slussen, 1930 - 2015

As I wrote in the introduction, "Slussen" refers to the whole area. When the previous lock was built in 1935, the priority was not to serve the boat traffic, but the car traffic. This was a chokepoint in the traffic, the traffic jams would be bad enough even without the bridge opening every now and then. The most significant part of the work was actually to establish an alternative route for the boat traffic, Hammarbyleden south of Södermalm. This southern channel was completed in 1930, it has one lock, the bridges are 26 metres high and can be opened to allow even taller ships to pass. With the southern channel operative, allowing shipping traffic through the central Stockholm got less important, the locks could be closed completely both in the early 1930s as they built the fourth lock, and today while building the fifth lock. It was also no longer needed with an opening bridge, a relatively low fixed bridge would do, redirecting the taller ships to the new channel. A big traffic system was built, mostly on the Södermalm side, it was one of the first cloverleaf interchanges (English wikipedia) in Europe. It seems like we've been lagging a bit behind the Swedes; for me this is more typical architecture of the 50s and 60s. For all the car drivers of Stockholm, "Slussen" is hence not associated with boats at all, but with car roads!

The background for the fifth lock is, unlike previous locks, not to expand the capacity for traffic on the sea nor on land, nor to expand the capacity for bigger boats - the biggest capacity lift will actually be on the amount of drinking water they will be able to extract from the lake! The previous constructions were simply deteoriating - in particular the carrying constructions are sinking deeper into the ground.

Slussen, historical overview

Here is a historical overview of the locks:

• First lock: Drottning Kristinas sluss - 1642-1745. Before they started building the lock, there was a land-based offer to pull ships through the strong current. After 1745, while constructing the Polhems sluss, all cargo had to be unloaded on one side of the lock and loaded onto other ships at the other side of the lock.
• Second lock: Christopher Polhems sluss - 1755-1850?. Parts of this old lock still existed until they started the current construction work.
• Third lock: Nils Ericsons sluss 1850-1931? It was built parallell to the old lock, hence the construction work didn't disrupt the shipping. This lock still exists, it's being used for regulating the water level but not for shipping, and it will be preserved throughout the current construction work.
• Hammarbyslussen (also on kanaler.arnholm.nu) - 1930 - this lock is on Hammarbyleden, an alternative route going outside the central parts of Stockholm. With the completion of this channel, the central lock became less significant for shipping.
• Fourth lock: Karl Johansslussen (also on kanaler.arnholm.nu - 1935-2015
• Fifth lock: Nya Slussen (no proper name yet), expected to open 2022.

Södertälje - the alternative route to Mälaren

There is also another route going to Mälaren lake, through Södertälje kanal, passing through Södartelje. I was doing some meta-research, but still didn't manage to find out if water has always been running this way out of Mälaren or not. The first proper lock was established in 1819, the lock today, Södartälje sluss, is one of the biggest in the Nordic countries. In Södertälje, "Slussen" would typically refer to this lock, not the one in Stockholm.

Södertalje is a short car drive from Stockholm, but the salt-water route from Stockholm to Södertälje is quite long!

Slussen on Wikipedia

Some other Wikipedia articles on Slussen (partly overlapping content, also partly overlapping content with the article on Karl Johansslussen):

• Slussen vägsystem
• Slussenområdet
• Slussen
• Söderström

Södermalm

Enough on Slussen ... let's continue on the walk! I turned right after arriving at Södermalm. Usage of Studded tires on roads not covered with snow/ice is a big environmental problem and it also puts great wear on the asphalt and cobblestones. In some of the biggest cities in Norway, we're experimenting with extra fees for vehicles driving with studded tires ... but I've never seen a sign like this before:

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Those stairs looks nice. I love stairs.

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Though, I decided not to walk down those stairs. I went down here instead:

2018-09-22 12:54:09 localtime - full quality

... and I found some other stairs eventually ...

position: geo:59.322818,18.066373 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 12:54:35 localtime - full quality

Here is from the fresh-water side of Stockholm. I believe my new phone is enhancing the blue color slightly.

position: geo:59.320995,18.066577 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 12:57:05 localtime - full quality

The Slussen construction work is behind this bridge. There are signs telling that one shouldn't proceed with a boat.

position: geo:59.320945,18.066251 (geohack) - 2018-09-22 12:57:47 localtime - full quality

When I got here, I thought it was about time to get to the train station, so I returned through Stadsholmen to Norrmalm; I've already covered the return trip above.

Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmR4Z2bWsa26QTkBaVvWEvGE6MEJc1mQCQEK1XnAqomL5d. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS Qmd8G5tV2UsGAHP42ABnyKHR1n5VJQrPhbbgoyYDTg3bYf. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article

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