Expanding car traffic has led to growing environmental and accessibility problems in Sweden's three main metropolitan areas: Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. In 1988, the Swedish Minister of Transport appointed the Metropolitan Traffic Committee, to prepare comprehensive data on which to base decisions aimed at limiting the effects of traffic on public health and the environment in urban areas. The committee first established agreement on the problems, acceptance of objectives, support for a package of interacting policies, a framework for funding, and suggestions for constitutional changes. Its work was embodied in the `Dennis Agreement', and identified five necessary interacting measures: (1) stronger regional and municipal planning; (2) upgraded and expanded public transport; (3) new traffic routes to solve local problems; (4) restrictions on car traffic; and (5) stricter requirements for exhaust emissions from cars and heavy vehicles. A significant agreement was signed in Stockholm in 1991, covering investments in public transport and major traffic routes. Even though much information was made available to the public from the start, public opposition became evident only when construction plans were finalised. Perhaps early work should have been done to construct a shared view of the city's transport problems. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 893662.
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