The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the Swedish road system, highway policies and guidelines. Other objectives are to give an overview of research projects and some issues of special interest. The Swedish state owns major rural roads and major urban through roads. These roads are managed by the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA) formally independent of the state government. Investment projects on national state highways, some 8000 km, are included in the present national plan for 2004-2015 for 42 Billion SEK (1 US$=7 SEK) including safety and environmental improvements. 17 Billion SEK are designated to improve bearing capacity on many of the roads that are a part of the entire state road network, especially in the north of Sweden. Investments on regional state roads during the same period will be 24 Billion SEK. Some 550 persons are killed every year in road traffic, 400 of them on state roads (mainly in rural areas). Head-on collisions and run-off-road accidents are dominant. Wide two lane roads are very cost-effective to convert to 2+1 with median barrier. Some 1000 km have been converted so far. The results are very successful - some 80% reduction in fatalities and 50% reduction in severe injuries. A new Swedish guideline for design of roads and streets was approved in June 2004. It was accomplished by cooperation between SNRA and The Swedish Association of Local Authorities (owner of the streets in the communities). The feasibility guidelines for investment and rehabilitation projects were updated in 2001 supported by a data program called EVA. There are a number of research projects on follow-up studies of 2+1 roads, development of 1+1 with a special road marking concept, roadside design, design and location of rumble road markings and design for partially-sighted persons, etc. The successful experiences of roundabouts in Sweden as elsewhere have increased in number from 700 to 1200 over 7 years. Speed management and median separation are crucial in the SNRA efforts to achieve the 2007 safety objective of 270 killed in road traffic as compared with the present level of over 500. The main tool for speed control is to augment the efficiency and the number of speed camera locations, now some 350 only in rural areas and only part-time equipped. Full scale tests with speed cameras have produced very promising results. There is now a program to establish 700 cameras in rural and urban areas to be more efficient than the present generation of cameras.
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