Klarabergsleden was a planned east–west main traffic route through southwestern

Norrmalm Norrmalm is a city district in Stockholm, Sweden. History Norrmalm is part of the larger borough of Norrmalm (''Norrmalms stadsdelsområde''). The southern part of the district, Lower Norrmalm (''Nedre Norrmalm''), also known as City, const ...

and eastern

Kungsholmen Kungsholmen is an island in Lake Mälaren in Sweden, part of central Stockholm, Sweden. It is situated north of Riddarfjärden and considered part of the historical province Uppland. Its area is with a perimeter of . The highest point is at S ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. The plans to build this route were put on hold in 1974. There was discussion about ''Klarabergsleden'', an east–west traffic connection between the central parts of Stockholm, already in 1928. The route was first designed in a

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

plan in 1932. The width of the route was planned as .Dufwa, Arne (ed.): ''Trafik, broar, tunnelbanor, gator.'' Stockholmia, Stockholms tekniska historia 1. Stockholm:

Liber In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of the ...

LIBRIS LIBRIS (Library Information System) is a Swedish national union catalogue maintained by the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm. It is possible to freely search about 6.5 million titles nationwide. In addition to bibliographic records, one fo ...

br>513275
To accommodate the increased car traffic after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the traffic planning department of the city of Stockholm designed a 31-metre-wide ''Klarabergsleden'' as an east–west main traffic route that would consist of a widened

Norr Mälarstrand Norr Mälarstrand (Swedish for "Northern Shore of Mälaren") is a street onWhile Kungsholmen is one of the city districts of Stockholm, it is also one of the ridges (''malmarna'') surrounding the Stockholm Old Town and places on the ridges are said ...

Klarabergsviadukten Klarabergsviadukten (Swedish: "The Viaduct of Hill of St Clare" ) is a reinforced concrete bridge and an overpass in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching over Klara Sjö, it connects Norrmalm to Kungsholmen. Where in English viaduct A via ...

Klarabergsgatan Klarabergsgatan is a main street in the district of Norrmalm in central Stockholm, Sweden. The street runs from Sergels Torg in the east to Klarabergsviadukten in the west, with a length of 350 metres and a width of 36 metres. Most of the houses a ...

and a widened

Hamngatan Hamngatan (Swedish: ''Port Street'') is a street in central Stockholm. It goes from Sergels torg down to Nybroplan, past NK department store, Kungsträdgården, Norrmalmstorg, and Berzelii Park. The Djurgården line travels along this street bet ...

. In the western part of Norr Mälarstrand the route would continue to Rålambshovsleden and in the eastern part of Hamngatan it would end at

Strandvägen Strandvägen is a waterfront on Östermalm in central Stockholm, Sweden. Completed just in time for the Stockholm World's Fair 1897, it quickly became known as one of the most prestigious addresses in town. Stretching 1 km (3.500 ft) ...

and Blasieholmsleden. Rålambshovsleden was completed in the 1930s and Hamngatan was widened in the 1960s. However, Blasieholmsleden was not built and Norr Mälarstrand was not widened. During the

redevelopment of Norrmalm The redevelopment of Norrmalm ( sv, Norrmalmsregleringen; ) was a major revision of the city plan for lower Norrmalm district in Stockholm, Sweden, which was principally decided by the Stockholm town council in 1945, and realised during the 195 ...

and the "Stockholm City car traffic maintenance plan" according to the City 67 city plan the traffic route was described in detail. The plan was that Klarabergsleden would go from Klarabergsgatan via Klarabergsviadukten over the train tracks and the

Klara Sjö Klara may refer to: * Klara, a female given name, see Clara (given name) * Klara (radio), a classical-music radio station in Belgium * Klara (singer), birth name Klára Vytisková (born 1985), Czech singer * Klara (Stockholm), an area of central S ...

canal, through the

Serafimerlasarettet Serafimerlasarettet (Seraphim Hospital), popularly known as ''Serafen'', was the first modern hospital in Sweden. It was located in Kungsholmen in Stockholm and active from 1752 to 1980. The current building still houses the local emergency departm ...

area and under Hantverkargatan onward through the Kungliga Myntet area and end at Norr Mälarstrand. The western parts of Serafirmerlasarettet would be torn down and Samuel Owens gata would be widened to .'' City 67'' plan of Stockholm. Klarabergsviadukten was dimensioned for the upcoming Klarabergsleden, which was however never constructed. This led to the bridge being overdimensioned in relation to the traffic. According to representatives of the road building department, a significant part of the state grant given to the construction of the bridge could have been spent in a better way.

References

{{coord missing, Sweden Transport in Stockholm History of Stockholm Cancelled highway projects Unbuilt buildings and structures in Sweden