Tronåsen - road Fv. 4208

This short but stunning road is an experience in itself, but if you get to know its story, it’s so cool that you probably will add it to your favourite list forever!

Let’s talk about the visual experience first. Yeah, it’s only 5.4 km long. And parts of it is one-way only, so you need to approach it from north-west. The road was first a single track, used for horses and transport of mail from in the 1600s. They started the road construction in 1791, and it was not ready to use before 1844. It’s closed during winter, and danger of slides keeps it closed from time to time the rest of the year as well…

Western main road

Parts of the road are so steep (1:3 – 1:4) that cars often chose to back up, as the engine has a stronger gear ratio in reverse and the chances of success were higher this way… I can easily picture the nervous bus passengers – and driver – when they had to put stones behind the wheels in the steepest hills to keep the bus in place when the engine cooled down… 😀

Road Fv. 4208 (previously (and still, according to Google Maps) called Fv. 946) is part of the first road for vehicles between Stavanger and Kristiansand, called the Wester Main road (Vedlandske hovedvei). Later the road was extended to Christiania (Oslo) and called the Southern Main Road. (Sørlandske hovedvei)

Road Fv. 4208 was operational till 1948. At that time, the railroad got a tunnel through Tronåsen, and the old railroad route along the lake Lundevatnet was used for road traffic. Today’s main road E16 is still using this route.

First suspension bridge

Tronåsen was once part of the famous Rally Monte Carlo, and every 5th year, there are rallies for veteran cars on the road. The last was in 2021.

Bakke bridge and Bakkekleiva bridge are two bridges crossing the river Sira on the eastern side of Tronåsen. Bakkekleiva bridge is a 13 meters long stone suspension bridge and the first and oldest of its kind in Norway.

The road is (often) open during summer, and you can ride it at your own risk – if the gate is open…
Note: the steepest parts are one-way-drive only, so you need to come from norrth-west (Moi) to drive the whole stretch.