Since Stockholm’s red-green coalition took office after the 2022 election, they have done everything to make life difficult for the city’s motorists. Now, the rescue services are sounding the alarm about the party’s plans for yet another car-free street in the central parts of the capital.

The Green Party’s latest idea in Stockholm is to connect central Södermalm with a 1.2-kilometer-long pedestrian route from Södra station to Stigbergsparken. If the coalition survives the next election, they promise to implement these plans.

One half is already car-free, but now they also want the approximately 700-meter-long Tjärhovsgatan to be permanently turned into a pedestrian street. This would mean that traffic and even more parking spaces would be removed and replaced with items like benches, outdoor cafés, planter boxes, hammocks, table football, and ping pong tables.

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“This is how we connect Södra station with the future Sofia station. We want to invite businesses to take up more space along the street and make it better for everyone who walks there,” says traffic commissioner Lars Strömgren (Green Party).

Could Cause Accessibility Problems

However, this is something that concerns the rescue services, who fear that accessibility during emergency responses could be impaired.

“As a private individual, I think pedestrian streets are a nice feature, but as a professional, I see how they reduce our operational capabilities,” says Jens Ahlstedt, deputy team leader at Katarina fire station, to Mitt i.

In theory, it could work, but the problem, he says, is that the maps don’t always match reality, and things like bicycles and electric scooters are left all over the place.

During the next term, the Green Party wants to remove even more cars from the areas around Nytorget and Skånegatan.

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