Slussen

Slussenområdet (Swedish: [ˈslɵsːɛnˌɔmroːdɛt], the Sluice area) is an area of central , on the Söderström river connecting Södermalm and Gamla stan. The area is named after the locks between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. Called Karl Johanslussen, the locks themselves allow passage between these two bodies of water (of different levels). Slussen also refers to the cloverleaf interchange and associated pedestrian passages and walkways opened in mid-October 1935.

The Slussen metro station is a hub of , serving the red and green lines of the , with an adjoining bus terminal and Saltsjöbanan commuter rail station serving the eastern parts of Stockholm and its surroundings. Djurgårdsfärjan departs adjacently.

It is unclear exactly when the channel at Slussen was created, but in the centuries up to the 17th century the differences in level between the Lake Mälaren with the Baltic Sea made it increasingly difficult to pass through the Söderström channel. The first lock was built here in 1642, Queen Christina's Lock. By the early 1700s the lock proved too small and in 1751 the Christopher Polhem Lock was completed. In 1850 an even larger lock was completed, the Nils Ericson lock.

In the 1860s rail traffic started crossing the locks and in the ensuing decades more and more wagon and carriage traffic, as well as pedestrians, crossed the lock between Gamla Stan and the Södermalm suburb. Various plans to improve the traffic situation were drawn up between 1895 and 1919.

With the arrival of the automobile, by the 1920s, the traffic situation was being called "Slussen Misery" (slusseneländet) in the press. In 1930 a committee was appointed with the task of solving this and other city traffic problems. (See ) In 1931 a total overhaul of Slussen was funded. Buildings were demolished, a new Karl-Johan Lock was built, and a cloverleaf interchange was built. Pedestrian tunnels and walkways were built on three different levels. The project was praised by Le Corbusier as "the modern era's first large project".

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Wikipedia