User:Aqwis/Transport in Hordaland

The transport system of Hordaland county in Norway consists of a great variety of transportation methods, ranging from the motorways of Bergen to car ferries deep within fjords and mountain railways. The communications centre of Hordaland is the city of Bergen, which alone makes up over half of the county's population.

Air
The first civilian airport in Hordaland was Bergen Airport, Flesland, which opened as late as 1955. By that time, Stavanger, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Oslo had already been served by airports for several decades. The airport was financed by NATO, although it has never actually been used as a NATO base. Bergen Airport, Flesland is Norway's second largest airport, with a traffic of 4,622,412 passengers as of 2007. Although Voss Airport, Bømoen is older than Flesland, having been opened for military uses in 1935, it was not opened for civilian traffic until the 1970s. At 1000 metres, the runway is too short to handle large airliners, and has a weight limit of 5700 kg.

Apart from Bergen Airport, Flesland, the only airport in Hordaland with a considerable amount of commercial traffic is Stord Airport, Sørstokken, which is served by routes to Oslo and Århus in Denmark. Stord Airport was opened in 1985, and has a 1460 metres long runway. In addition to the three airports with commercial traffic, there are three heliports, three seaplane airports, as well as Os Airport, Vaksinen, used by a glider club, in the county.

Rail
Hordaland contains x kilometers of railways, and two railway lines: the Bergen Railway and the Flåm Railway. The Bergen Railway runs to Bergen from Oslo, and has x stations in Hordaland. The busiest stations are the terminus, Bergen Railway Station, Voss Station, and Arna Station.

Bergen Line
The Bergen Line between Bergen and Hønefoss is the fifth longest railway in Norway. Including the line segment between Hønefoss and Oslo, technically not part of the Bergen Line, it is Norway's third longest railway with a total length of 527 km.

Tramways and light rail
The first three lines of the Bergen Tramway opened June 29, 1897. Starting 1950, tramway lines were gradually replaced with bus and trolleybus routes. The last line was closed in 1965. Since 1993, a museum tram operates in Møhlenpris under the name Bergen's Electric Tramway.

Following several decades of proposals and planning, the city council of Bergen voted to build a light rail system in Bergen in 2000. The proposal was accepted by the Storting in 2002. The first stage of the system, of which the construction is underway and expected to finish in 2010, involves a 9.8 km long line, with 2.6 km (27 %) of tunnels, from the city centre to Nesttun in southern Bergen. Following the completion of the first stage, a second stage to the shopping centre Lagunen Storsenter will be built. The second stage is expected to be followed by a final southern expansion to the airport, although no ultimate decision has been made.

Road network

 * Environmental streets (miljøgater): Nygårdsgaten, etc. in Bergen and Uttrågata in Voss.

Bridges and tunnels
The rugged geography of Hordaland necessitates a developed network of bridges and tunnels to link the different parts of the county.