Summertime is travel time. You’ll notice this especially when you’re on the road in Sweden with your truck or car during the warmer months. Find out here what you should look out for on your tour and what the transport industry is like in the Scandinavian country.

Swedish roads are busier in summer than the rest of the year. In addition to the locals enjoying their vacation in their own country, there are also numerous foreign tourists. This can lead to traffic jams even on the otherwise mostly free Swedish roads, especially around popular destinations and on main roads. To alleviate this, some tourist regions and cities are issuing temporary local traffic regulations, including driving bans for trucks, especially during special events.

Inform in good time

In summer, road construction and maintenance is also very busy in Sweden. You should therefore expect detours, lane closures and occasionally longer journey times as a result. It’s best to find out shortly before you set off so that you are aware of any last-minute changes.

Although Swedish summers are generally mild, heat waves can sometimes cause problems – and affect the road surface. So keep your eyes open! Also because of the wild animals, which enjoy the warm weather and are more active than in winter. You should therefore be particularly vigilant, especially in rural areas, to avoid collisions with moose, for example.

Swedish summers are mild, but not entirely free of pitfalls. Photo: iStock

A growing industry

Of course, your Swedish colleagues have long been used to the little pitfalls of summer. They can’t harm the industry: Road freight transport in the Scandinavian country has seen steady growth in recent years. In 2022, the transport volume reached a provisional high of 47,870 million tonne-kilometres. The share of road freight transport in total domestic freight transport was 71 percent in 2021. Regionally, the province of Skåne was the leader in 2020 with 5.69 billion tonne-kilometres. Heavy goods vehicles over 55 tons made the largest contribution to the transport volume in 2020 with 36.9 billion tonne-kilometres.

Have you ever been on the road in Sweden in summer? Tell us about your experiences!