Response to interpellation 2025/26:143 on motorway standards on road 40 between Jönköping and Ulricehamn
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the motorway standard on road 40 between Jönköping and Ulricehamn. KD argues that the government is investing historically large amounts in infrastructure 1, but that they inherited an underfunded plan and a large maintenance debt that must be addressed before new investments can take place 2. KD believes that S wants to cut road maintenance by 45 billion kronor 2 3 and that the government prioritizes that the roads meet the standard 2 3. S argues that road 40 is a critical bottleneck where expansion is crucial for the labor market, the business sector, and the defense readiness 4. S prioritizes railways 5 and argues that large investments should be made instead of lowering taxes for the richest 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Niklas Sigvardsson has asked me if I intend to take the initiative to ensure that road 40 between Jönköping and Ulricehamn is included and given high priority in the national infrastructure plan, so that the road can be expanded to full motorway standard and meet the requirements for traffic safety and preparedness as well as the needs of the business community.
The infrastructure needs are great in many places in Sweden, and it has long been clear to me that tough prioritizations will need to be made, even though the government is investing heavily in infrastructure and that the frameworks, both for maintenance and for investments, have increased compared to the previous period.
Following the government's proposal in the infrastructure bill (prop. 2024/25:28), the economic framework for the next planning period, 2026–2037, has been established at 1,171 billion kronor. It is a historically large investment where we increase the infrastructure framework by over 200 billion kronor compared to the previous planning period and where we prioritize maintaining the existing transport system and prioritize maintenance while the transport system can be developed.
Against that background, Trafikverket has been tasked, in its proposal for a new national plan for the period 2026–2037, among other things to proceed from the premise that socio-economic profitability shall be guiding, as well as to consider the need for coherent corridors, when prioritizing measures in the transport infrastructure. Trafikverket's proposal was submitted to the government in the autumn.
Trafikverket has, as Niklas Sigvardsson noted, not proposed that the expansion of road 40 between Jönköping and Ulricehamn should be included in the plan. Measures for better accessibility on road 40 are, however, included in Trafikverket's proposal.
I want to emphasize that there are no positions from the government regarding Trafikverket's proposal as of yet. It is under preparation. Right now, as you know, a referral process is underway regarding the proposal.
The government will not take a position on what the final plan should look like before the referral process is completed. A decision from the government is planned during the spring of 2026. I can therefore not at this moment comment on whether individual objects should be included in the plan or not, which Niklas Sigvardsson is well aware of.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Infrastructure, for the answer, even if it did not go entirely in my line!
Road 40 between Jönköping and Ulricehamn is not just any road. It is the last remaining stretch between Stockholm and Gothenburg that lacks motorway standards. It is a bottleneck in one of Sweden's most important transport corridors. It is a stretch where traffic safety is worse than it should be, where accessibility is lacking and where the risks of accidents are tangible – not least for heavy traffic. For example, during the time I have been waiting for this opportunity, a number of accidents have occurred on the road section in question.
The Minister refers to the historically large framework for the national plan. That is good. Sweden needs large investments in infrastructure. But a large framework does not solve the problems when it comes to priorities that respond to these needs.
Madam Speaker! Already in 2016, the measures evaluation study pointed out the deficiencies along road 40. The year after, the Swedish National Audit Office directed criticism toward the lack of progress. Time has passed, but the world around us has changed radically. We have had several years of war in our vicinity. The government, with Andreas Carlson at the helm, has thrown the proposal for a railway connection between Göteborg, Borås, and Jönköping into the wastebasket. In that case, this road needs to be prioritized.
The Armed Forces identify road 40 as strategically important for both civil and military mobility. The business community in both the Jönköping region and the Sjuhärad region testifies to difficulties in recruiting labor when travel times are uncertain and commuting functions poorly. The transport sector demands both charging infrastructure and staging areas that today's road standard does not enable – they demand a higher road standard.
So this is not just about a local special interest; it can be easy to think that when talking about a single road. It is about a national route that is part of the Scandinavian transport corridor and which is a crucial link between our industrial inland and the port of Gothenburg.
We can see that politicians across party lines, municipal boundaries, and county boundaries are in agreement. During the autumn, the involved parties carried out several joint activities to increase the pressure on the issue. It is about an expansion of these 44 kilometers.
These actors highlighted several different arguments. Some of the main arguments are very important.
It is about, for example, traffic safety and security. Today's 2+1 road is, as I previously said, accident-prone and creates risks for private individuals but also for heavy traffic. A new road with motorway standards contributes to increased traffic safety, not only here but also elsewhere, as one can choose national road 40 instead of smaller roads in the surrounding area.
That the labor market region is strengthened is another main argument. A motorway shortens the travel time and expands the labor market in the Jönköping, Ulricehamn, and Borås areas.
The business sector's need for efficient freight transport cannot be overstated. It is crucial for the manufacturing industry and logistics in and around the Jönköping area that we obtain a functioning motorway standard on this stretch.
The Minister will now say, just as in the introduction, that he cannot take a position on any individual projects during this period. But I really want to emphasize that I hope the minister can say how he acts to ensure that this road is prioritized. It is about increasing capacity and making it safer and better. This is something the voters at home in Jönköpings län and also the voters in the Sjuhäradsregionen can actually expect.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Of course, the public will receive answers regarding how the government will prioritize and what decisions we will make. We will return to this. Niklas Sigvardsson is well aware of this.
I have in no way, Madam Speaker, said that this should be a local special interest. I do not hope that anyone perceives it that way, not Niklas Sigvardsson either. Road 40 is a national trunk road. It is an important connection between Göteborg and Jönköping and constitutes a main artery for traffic between Göteborg and Stockholm. The current section has an important function for long-distance freight transport and for work commuting.
The arguments that Niklas Sigvardsson highlights are well known. There are, of course, great gains to be made by making investments. But at the same time, the needs are great across the entire country, and that is why prioritizations will need to be made.
Niklas Sigvardsson says that a large framework does not solve the priorities, but it is clear that it becomes easier to make priorities if one makes a historically large investment in infrastructure. Our framework, which we are presenting, is an increase of a full 27 percent – that can be seen if one compares in the same way with the current plan.
Niklas Sigvardsson refers to a measures choice study from 2016. I would like to remind the member and the chamber that a national plan was issued both in 2018 and 2022. This road was not included there. It is somewhat touching that Niklas Sigvardsson, as a Social Democrat, is now placing his hopes in a bourgeois government. It is telling, Madam Speaker, because with the Green Party in government, there was not a chance of including such a road investment.
The first thing the Social Democrats and the Green Party did in government was to put a spoke in the wheel of a major road investment here in the Stockholm area, namely Förbifart Stockholm. It was to be slowed down. Construction was already underway, but they wanted to stop it. I believe therefore that many in the whole country, even in Jönköping County and in Västra Götaland, understand that there is a great skepticism towards one of the parties that Niklas Sigvardsson is eventually expected to form a government with.
That is why, Madam Speaker, Niklas Sigvardsson stands here today and wants an answer as concrete as possible. He is, in fact, afraid that if the Social Democrats win the election, there will be no chance for route 40. Now Niklas Sigvardsson takes the opportunity and places his hope in the bourgeois government; I will give him that anyway. But if the current government prioritizes this stretch and misfortune then strikes and there is a change of government, can we then trust that they will not again want to put a spoke in the wheels of important road investments?
With that said, Trafikverket has been tasked with developing a proposal for a new plan where the government has emphasized socio-economic profitability, the importance of corridor and system thinking, the significance of the security policy situation, and that the needs of the total defense must be included when the proposal is presented. Now, Trafikverket has presented its proposal, and we have also received many referral responses and comments on this proposal. We are currently processing these, and therefore I want to emphasize once again that there are still no positions from the government regarding Trafikverket's proposal. Niklas Sigvardsson says that my answer is not along his lines, but it is a bit early to say because we in the government have not presented our positions.
For those listening, it may perhaps seem a bit difficult to understand why a minister cannot answer the question today, but it is because we are assessing the different items and proposals in a collective process. That work is currently ongoing. We will return during the spring with the collective answer on what the national plan will look like for the coming twelve years. Therefore, I answer as I do to Niklas Sigvardsson's question today.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! The purpose of this debate is not polemic, even though the Minister is trying to create such. What I want is to highlight an incredibly important stretch of road, an issue that Social Democrats from Jönköping County have championed for a long time and will continue to champion.
I would like to allow myself to quote something that I believe the Minister for Infrastructure will recognize: ”The highway stretch between Jönköping and Ulricehamn would link labor market regions. It increases companies' ability to recruit staff and the opportunities for residents in different regions to find work in other places, as commuting opportunities increase significantly. It would be of great importance for promoting growth in several regions and counties, not least in the Jönköping region. It would also be significant for places in close proximity to National Road 40, such as for example Bottnaryd and Mullsjö. Better conditions are created for jobs and growth. It also becomes easier to gather the family, study in another place, or visit various events in other cities.”
The quote comes from Andreas Carlson's own motion from several parliamentary meetings, most recently from the 2021/22 parliamentary meeting, and with this I want to show that there is a possibility to create consensus on this important route and move things forward together. The quote could just as well have been from the motion that I myself was involved in writing and submitted during this parliamentary meeting.
Different representatives for Jönköpings län have worked on this road section for a long time, but regardless of the government, it has not been possible for various reasons to include it in the different national plans previously. The issue is important, and we will need to push it for a long time. I think, Madam Speaker, however, that there are several other arguments, and both the national plans that the minister mentioned earlier and the measures choice study have strengthened the arguments that the stretch was truly needed.
Two of the arguments that I did not raise in my opening statement, which are the main arguments for the actors from the Jönköping-Sjuhärad region, concern defense, preparedness, and international accessibility. Those arguments have only become stronger as time has passed and since Andreas Carlson became minister instead of a member of this chamber.
In the infrastructure preparedness and robustness that we need in the national and international network, now that we are also a Natoland, national road 40 is an absolutely important point for connecting the Port of Gothenburg in the west with eastern Sweden so that we get the east-west connection that can be useful for us in the civil sphere with the needs of the business sector, infrastructure and that part, but also if the worst were to happen. In the event of a serious threat and in a war situation, this is an incredibly important stretch, and it is important that we can expand different sections.
It is also about international accessibility through a clear connection and better road links through the European transport network. Our largest port, which is also Oslo's largest port, is located in Gothenburg, and that gives extreme weight to the Scandinavian infrastructure network.
Madam Speaker! I believe that the Minister and I agree that this is not a local special interest, but that it is of both national and international importance that this stretch of road is prioritized. I am therefore not having this debate to create polemics between myself and the Minister, but to highlight an incredibly important stretch of road that we in Jönköping County and also in the Sjuhärad region agree on across party lines, but also between different municipalities and different regions.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! My previous contribution was in no way intended to create polemics. I believe, however, that it is quite important to provide factual information about the situation.
This has been on the table for a long time. The arguments have been clear. One has had full control over the benefits of this. But at the same time, Niklas Sigvardsson's party neither in 2018 nor 2022, when they had the chance, included it in the national plan, and therefore Sigvardsson's hope now stands for a conservative government. That was what I wanted to emphasize.
As I said, the arguments are well known. I think it is very nice of Niklas Sigvardsson to quote a previous motion of mine in the chamber in today's debate. I have not changed my opinion. It is clear that there are many good reasons to make this investment, but there are also many good reasons to make other investments.
We inherited a national plan that was grossly underfunded. The National Audit Office criticized the previous plan and wrote in the headline that it promised more than it could deliver. That was one factor. Another factor was that for a very long time, a maintenance debt had been pushed forward, which means we now stand in a situation where half of the 1,200 billion needs to go to maintenance for us to catch up.
If the neglect of maintenance and an unfunded plan had not been on the table when we stepped in, we would have had more funds to invest in Swedish infrastructure. Now, the most important commitment for me as Minister for Infrastructure and for us as a government has been to finally tackle the maintenance debt and have a plan to rectify three decades of mistakes and failures, regardless of party affiliation.
Here is another important factual clarification. Niklas Sigvardsson's party wants to cut our offensive road maintenance initiative by a full 45 billion kronor. We have allocated 354 billion for the coming twelve years. The Social Democrats think that is too much. They want to cut by 45 billion and do not have a plan to recover the entire maintenance debt, and in that case, it is clear that other measures can be discussed. The government has, however, been clear that the Swedish people should be able to rely on the roads we already have meeting the standard. After that, when we have addressed the basic maintenance and the base functions in Swedish infrastructure so that people can trust that the roads we have hold up and that the railway gets better punctuality, reliability, and a safer accessibility, then we can begin to discuss new investments.
Then an important factor is what Niklas Sigvardsson said in a previous post, namely that the government cancelled the planning for trunk lines for high-speed trains. The National Audit Office has reviewed the decision we made to cancel these plans and concluded that it saves 162 billion in upcoming plans. The next generation and generations after that would have had to pay off that type of investment that you wanted to make, Niklas Sigvardsson, before you had addressed the maintenance debt, before one could have gotten national road 40 into the plan. You chose another path.
By cancelling those plans, there are more resources to address the base, adopt a line-of-sight and systems thinking, and ensure the needs of the total defense are met. It is the foundation for the task we now have when we are to make decisions regarding the next national plan.
An important thing to say is that one cannot promise everything to everyone and postpone the payment to the future, but one must take responsibility here and now. That is what the government is doing. That being said, the arguments are well known. The government has not made any decision in either one way or the other in the issue Niklas Sigvardsson poses today.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Just a clarification before I continue: We Social Democrats have prioritized differently. We allocate more money to railways, which we see as necessary in this situation. We also make the assessment that trunk lines need to be seen as an important part. Both the railway network and the road network are incredibly important. It is important to take into account the context when the Minister says what he says. An expanded railway trunk network creates robustness in the entire infrastructure system.
Madam Speaker! When the Minister for Infrastructure speaks about maintenance debts and debts in the infrastructure network and that a main line would have cost a lot of time and money in the future, it is important to know that the government the Minister sits in is causing Sweden's national debt to increase extremely much. The recent bourgeois governments have repeatedly increased the national debt. It would be better to increase the national debt by making clear, large investments that last – perhaps even for centuries – than to lower the tax for the very richest.
With that said, I want to devote the last seconds of this interpellation debate to taking the question back to national road 40. It is an incredibly important part of the road network.
We have been able to observe during the debate that there are actually quite a few points of agreement between the Social Democrats and myself in this case and the Minister for Infrastructure, above all that the Minister for Infrastructure himself has pushed the issues through motions in the Swedish Riksdag. This makes us Social Democrats think that it would be appropriate for the government to deliver an answer that road 40 and the 44 kilometers in question receive motorway standards, so that Gothenburg and Stockholm are linked via the incredibly important industrial logistics hub that the Jönköping region is.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! It is true, as Niklas Sigvardsson says, that when you cut 45 billion in road maintenance, you have moved those 45 billion in your Excel sheet to railway maintenance. The problem is that Trafikverket says that those funds will not be able to be utilized at the speed the Social Democrats seem to want. It is not possible to extract 45 billion in railway maintenance with current working methods; instead, they need to be developed first. The risk is tangible that the 45 billion will be wasted.
With the Social Democrats' policy, there will still be potholes in the roads all over the country, even in Jönköping County. For 45 billion kronor, one gets a very large amount of road maintenance. That is what the government has prioritized. We maximize the maintenance on both the road side and the railway side so that the reliability of the Swedish infrastructure shall increase.
Niklas Sigvardsson speaks about trunk lines as if he has a credit card with no limit, but even the Social Democrats do not. The problem is that it has been given the appearance of it during the recent plans. That was why the National Audit Office said that the national plan, as presented by the previous government, promised more than it could deliver. The headline was: "Promises more than it can deliver."
The Government and the Christian Democrats see that we need to keep what we promise. We cannot promise everything to everyone and send the bill to future children and grandchildren. Now we need to ensure that we get an infrastructure that holds up. We have given a very clear mandate to Trafikverket to have a systems thinking, to have a corridor perspective, and to see what can be done to get the most possible benefit for the money. In that case, the arguments for national road 40 are well known. We have received several responses from referral bodies that have highlighted this. It is on the table when we prepare the national plan, for which we will make decisions during the spring. With that, I would like to thank Niklas Sigvardsson for the commitment and for the debate.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.