“It’s beneficial to the environment to build tall and tight blocks in Bjørvika”, affirms scientist Aud Tennøy from the Norwegian Institute of Transport. “The location itself, right next to Oslo Central Station, makes it easy for people to leave the car at home.
Very few people will need to use a car to get to Bjørvika. The new city district will be easily accessible for almost everybody living in these parts of the country if they use collective transportation. All inhabitants of the inner city can also effortlessly enter the area by feet or bike. Parking lots are consequently not given priority in the zoning plan. “This is eco-smart planning”, admits Tennøy.
Attractive location
Tennøy points at the obvious fact that if 20 000 employees were to have their daily working place elsewhere. Such a scenario would imply a significant increase in car traffic opposed to the benefits of being located right next to Oslo Central Station.
Tennøy gives us a realistic estimate of only 10 % commuting by car. With another location somewhere in greater Oslo, this proportion would be 60 % and for Akershus County the figure would be even higher with a raise up to 70 %.
Reduction in car traffic
The actual location in Bjørvika will generate an approximate figure of 4000 daily travels using car, whereas a different location somewhere in Akershus would raise this number to 28 000 daily car travels. The beneficial location thus gives a de facto reduction in road traffic.
- “It eventually mounts up to cutting traffic jams as well as reducing urban air pollution and emissions of toxic gases from road transport”, says Tennøy.