Residents and businesses in Skanderborg say traffic diversions and congestion during this year’s Smukfest are disrupting daily life, and Mayor Frands Fischer has promised to evaluate the festival traffic plan once the event ends.
DR reports that the festival in Bøgeskoven is drawing around 60,000 visitors a day, including volunteers. Several locals describe long car queues and rerouted streets that make it harder to shop, get to work or reach a doctor.
Social Democratic city council member Andreas Tang-Brock has invited residents on Facebook to describe the problems the festival creates. According to DR, the post has so far received more than 160 comments, many of them about queues and traffic changes.
One of them is 29-year-old Clara Sørensen, who works in Horsens and has a one-year-old son at the Skovhuset nursery on the edge of Bøgeskoven. She tells DR that afternoon pickups have taken up to two hours this week, because diversions force her to drive through town. She describes the area around the nursery as chaotic, with staff bars set up and people walking in and out.
At SuperBrugsen in Skanderborg, manager Søren Stoltenberg says festival guests bring extra customers but also logistical trouble. Deliveries normally cover the few kilometers from the motorway quickly, but this week drivers have needed up to an hour.
Both Sørensen and Stoltenberg say they value what the festival does for the town. As reported by DR, they want Skanderborg Municipality and the organizers to take residents’ daily routines more into account, with dialogue starting before the festival opens.
Municipality points to new measures
Fischer, a Social Democrat, says he understands the frustration. He notes that the municipality introduced new traffic measures this year together with the police, emergency services and Smukfest, including changes to one-way systems on some roads. Per DR, he says the approach may have been the wrong one and must be evaluated after the festival.
Skanderborg Municipality states on its festival traffic page that a specific plan is drawn up so the event can be held and the increased traffic handled. The plan includes temporary one-way systems, reduced speed limits and parking restrictions on selected streets. Some streets are open only to permit holders, to keep guests from parking in residential areas.
Ahead of the festival, Sydøstjyllands Politi said on July 30 that traffic conditions were one of its fixed focus areas. The police pointed to the opening days, when many guests arrive by car.
Smukfest content manager Trine Bang says the festival is aware of its footprint in the town. She tells DR that residents are informed before, during and after the event, but that some level of nuisance cannot be avoided at this scale.
