Qualla: Atlantic Ocean Road

Atlantic Ocean Road: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ernst Vikne, CC BY-SA 2.0. Twelve hurricanes struck during construction. That fact alone tells you what kind of road this is. The Atlantic Ocean Road -- Atlanterhavsveien in Norwegian -- runs 8.3 kilometers across an archipelago on the coast of More og Romsdal county, hopping between small islands and skerries on eight bridges, several causeways, and a series of viaducts that seem to dare the Norwegian Sea to swallow them. Opened on July 7, 1989, the road connects the island of Averoya with the mainland, threading through Hustadvika -- one of the most exposed stretches of the Norwegian coast. In 2006, The Guardian declared it the best road trip in the world. The automotive industry agreed: more than ten car manufacturers have filmed television commercials along the route, usually showcasing the weather at its most theatrical.

Read more: Atlantic Ocean Road on Qualla

Image: Ernst Vikne | CC BY-SA 2.0

Atlantic Ocean Road: A Railway That Became a Road

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit edward stojakovic from chicago, United States, CC BY 2.0. The route was first imagined as a railway. In the early twentieth century, as the Rauma Line was being planned to connect More og Romsdal to Norway's national rail network, proposals emerged to extend it along the coast. In 1921 the county council chose an outer route that would ...

Read more: Atlantic Ocean Road on Qualla

Image: edward stojakovic from chicago, United States | CC BY 2.0

Atlantic Ocean Road: Building Through the Storms

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ernst Vikne, CC BY-SA 2.0. Progress was slow at first. The project started as a municipal road effort, but from July 1, 1986, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration took over, accelerating construction through conditions that would have stopped most projects cold. Workers endured twelve major windstorms...

Read more: Atlantic Ocean Road on Qualla

Image: Ernst Vikne | CC BY-SA 2.0

Atlantic Ocean Road: Island to Island

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lukas Beck, CC BY 4.0. Driving the road from Averoya, you begin at Utheim near the village of Karvag and immediately enter a landscape where the distinction between land and sea becomes academic. The road leaps onto Kuholmen, crosses the 115-meter Little Lauvoeysund Bridge to Lille Lauvoy, then continu...

Read more: Atlantic Ocean Road on Qualla

Image: Lukas Beck | CC BY 4.0

Atlantic Ocean Road: Construction of the Century

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CHG, CC BY 3.0. Recognition has accumulated steadily. The Norwegian construction industry named the Atlantic Ocean Road the "Norwegian Construction of the Century" in 2005. The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage preserved it as a cultural heritage site in December 2009 -- an unusual dis...

Read more: Atlantic Ocean Road on Qualla

Image: CHG | CC BY 3.0