New speed limit signs, in both Icelandic and English, will be set up at some 75 single lane bridges around Iceland, displaying the lowered limit.
RÚV reports that the first bridge to get the treatment is the one at Núpsvötn in Skeiðarsandi, southeast Iceland. The speed limit sign was not only badly damaged; the bridge itself was the site of a fatal car accident that claimed three lives.
The speed limit for all single lane bridges on Route 1 will be reduced to 50km/h, and this goes into effect at each bridge the moment a new sign is erected there. In the first leg of the initiative, a special focus will be placed on bridges in South Iceland.
As the Grapevine reported in 2016, data gathered by the Ministry of the Interior shows that there are in total 715 single-lane bridges in Iceland, and 39 of them can be found on the Ring Road. Of those, 30 can be found on the 300-kilometre stretch between Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Djúpavogur.
Safety concerns regarding these bridges have risen in the wake of last December’s accident, especially so in light of the age and degree of wear-and-tear some of these bridges have endured; more so the case as a fourth of Iceland’s single-lane bridges are over 60 years old.
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