Political reasons and driving forces for promoting road expansion : a case study on E6 in Skåne

Abstract: This thesis is a case study which investigates political parties’ reasons and driving forces for advocating an expansion of E6 in Skåne with respect to the fact that the highway today has reached its full capacity. The two biggest parties in the region, the Social Democratic Party and the Moderate Party, have been included in the research. The arguments stated by each party, revealed through semi-structured interviews, have been related to concepts often discussed when considering road expansion. These concepts are induced traffic, environmental aspects and economic development. From the research one can conclude that the parties’ main reason for advocating an expansion is with respect to heavy congestion. The interviews reveal that both parties are aware that road expansion necessarily does not ease congestion and instead induce traffic. Environmental aspects have been taken into consideration when preparing the proposal to expand E6. However, the parties have different points of departures. None of the parties explicitly consider economic development to be a reason for expanding E6. Most likely the main driving force within the parties derives from the fact that an expansion is highly demanded by the population.