SV Wants to Cut Road Investment

News in Agder puts the debate over motorways at the forefront in Agder County. On Monday 2 November, SV presented its alternative budget ahead of negotiations with Ap, MDG, Rødt and Sp. The party wants to sharply reduce road investment, with direct consequences for Nye Veier and the E18 and E39 routes in Agder (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

Budget: Sørlandet / Agder news at the heart of SV’s cuts

SV is proposing to cut 4 billion kroner from Nye Veier, the public company responsible for developing the E18 and E39 in Agder. The party also wants to halt other motorway projects and reduce subsidies intended to lower toll fees. An exception is planned for Ryfast (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

MDG, a negotiating partner, is in turn calling for a “waste contract” (“sløserikontrakt”) on the part of the left-wing coalition and wants to halt all motorway construction on the Oslo-Stavanger axis. “Throwing away 1 billion is a very poor reason to throw away 2,” the party’s representative in the Storting said, according to NRK Sørlandet / Agder. These Sørlandet / Agder news stories translate locally into the county of Agder, where the E18 and E39 construction sites remain closely monitored.

Climate: Late heat records along the Skagerrak coast

On Friday, unusually high temperatures were recorded along the Skagerrak coast. The Landvik station in Grimstad in Agder County measured 18.1 degrees, a new record for a temperature this high at this time of year. Kjevik Airport in Kristiansand reached 17.5 degrees, and Arendal 17.1 degrees (NRK Sørlandet / Agder, according to yr.no).

Meteorologists are forecasting several more pleasant autumn days (NRK Sørlandet / Agder). These readings are part of a mild spell for the Sørlandet region.

Kristiansand: Christmas trees installed from Monday

On Monday morning, passersby could walk among dozens of Christmas trees at the Fish Market (Fiskebrygga) in Kristiansand. Heidi Sørvig, who is in charge of the Kvadraturforeningen association, explains that the city has been preparing for Christmas since before summer. She understands that the timetable is surprising after a mild October, but points out that the installation takes time (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

The teams work outside shop opening hours. Each string of lights must be connected separately, which makes the preparation more time-consuming. “Some people think we have a big button to press to turn on the lights,” says Heidi Sørvig (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

Health: a campaign to encourage men to seek medical advice

Ove Ådegaard Nilsen consulted a doctor after feeling for several weeks that he needed to swallow twice and noticing a swollen lymph node in his neck. The diagnosis revealed tonsil cancer. His story accompanies the launch of the Kreftforeningen campaign «Menn gjør noe med det», which aims to raise awareness of warning signs (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

Geir Wehus, the regional manager for Kreftforeningen in Sørlandet, points out that women are more likely than men to monitor their bodies and consult a doctor. The campaign aims to close this gap in Agder county as elsewhere (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

Reading: tight municipal budget causes concern in Gjerstad

At Abel school in Gjerstad, a municipality in Agder county, teacher and librarian Else Marie Endal Flaten notes that students answer present when asked whether they read over the weekend. The school has built a culture of reading, but the municipality must make savings. The teacher fears that budget cuts will hinder these achievements (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

The students quoted by NRK mention books they read at home, sometimes with their parents. The issue of funding for school libraries therefore becomes a local and concrete concern in Agder county, as Gjerstad seeks budgetary room (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

📌 Local briefs

A traffic accident was reported on the E18 in Kristiansand early on Tuesday 3 November, with the road surface reported to be slippery (Fædrelandsvennen).

Two sex workers were threatened with a pistol and subjected to an attempted robbery in an apartment in central Kristiansand last weekend. The police arrested four adolescents, three of whom were minors (NRK Sørlandet / Agder).

Sources: NRK Sørlandet / Agder, Fædrelandsvennen, The Local Norway — Period: 02 November 2026 and 03 November 2026