In the National Transport Plan for 2022, which was adopted by the previous national government, a pre-funding of the E4 in Skellefteå was mentioned for the first time. However, the implementation has been postponed to 2028 and beyond.

This worries Skellefteå municipality in several ways. Primarily because it is taking so long when traffic in the city has already begun to increase. But the future construction will also "collide" with the construction of the Norrbotnia railway, which will increase the burden on the contractors.

"There is an obvious risk of a chaotic situation if such large building and civil engineering projects occur simultaneously in nearby areas," the planning director Lars Hedqvist wrote to the city council.

This year, the current government tasked the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) with reviewing how to speed up matters concerning industrial development in northern Sweden.

However, apart from building, the Trafikverket is finding it expensive and time-consuming to plan the work.

 Trafikverket has recently started work on a road map for the relocation and estimates that it will be five years in the making.

The municipality's working committee felt that the municipality should try to speed up the studies. So they have agreed to lend Trafikverket the money to speed up the road plan. This will reduce planning time by one year, resulting in a finished road plan in four years.

The matter will now be passed on to the city council. It is not clear what the level of support there will be.

Politicians liked another question about advances to the Swedish Transport Administration. It is about the Norrbothnia railroad and a possible viaduct in Östra Leden that Norran told about.  

The proposal is that the municipality should pay for the design of a railway viaduct. However, the municipality will only have to pay if the E4 is moved to a location other than Östra Leden, which the municipality is not particularly concerned about, because it is considered unlikely that the Swedish Transport Administration will choose a different route, as the road would then be longer and more expensive, and the surrounding area would be adversely affected.