Essingeleden southbound from Nybodahöjden
Photo: Tage Olsin

Essingeleden is a motorway that goes from Solna to Stockholm, Sweden, crossing the westmost parts of central Stockholm, by going over Kungsholmen, Lilla Essingen and Stora Essingen. It has two bridges Gröndalsbron (400 m) and Essingebron (470 m) and one tunnel Fredhällstunneln (210 m), which is one of the most trafficked tunnels in Europe. The road is part of European route E4, and is the most heavily heavily trafficked road in Sweden, with about 150,000 vehicles per day. Motorway mark in Europe. ... Solna (population 57,994, 2004) is a Municipality in Stockholm County, in central Sweden, located north of Stockholms city centre. ... Stockholm panorama from the City Hall is the capital of Sweden, located on the south east coast of Sweden. ... Kungsholmen is an islet in lake Mälaren in midth Sweden, part of Stockholm City. ... Lilla Essingen is a small island of Stockholm. ... The international E-road network is a network of roads in Europe, numbered E01 and up. ... European route E4 passes through Finland and Sweden. ...

The road was inaugurated on August 21, 1966 with two temporary lanes in each direction on the western half of the road, as Sweden was about to switch over to right-hand sided traffic the next year. The road was fully operational first in September 1967 after that Sweden had switched over to right-hand side traffic, and Essingeleden became the first six-lane motorway in Sweden. During the 1990s, the road was repainted from six lanes to eight lanes to increase the capacity. August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Dagen H logo Dagen H (H day) was the day, 3 September 1967, on which traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

Essingeleden has on several occasions been included in plans to create a ring road around Stockholm, but the ring road is only very slowly being built. Not much happed 1966-2000, but then the Southern Link was built (opened 2004). The Northern Link will be built in the coming years. Sodra Lanken is a recently-built road, connecting European highways E4 and E20 just southwest of Stockholm with highway 222 east of Stockholm. ...

Essingeleden is the only road through central Stockholm that is exempt from the Stockholm congestion tax. The Stockholm congestion tax or The Stockholm Trials (in Swedish: Trängselskatt i Stockholm or Stockholmsförsöket) is a traffic congestion and environmental tax that will be imposed on most vehicles in Stockholm, Sweden during a trial period between January 3, 2006 and July 31, 2006. ...