Aalbækvejen

Ageposten

I 1800 tallet var vejen mellem Frederikshavn og Skagen særdeles ufarbar, specielt det sidste stykke fra Aalbæk til Skagen, hvorfor landtransport som oftest skete med den hestetrukne postvogn, Ageposten, som fra Aalbæk som regel valgte at følge stranden langs Kattegat til Skagen og forlade stranden i Vesterby.

Alternativt var transporten langs kysten ved Skagerrak til Nordstrand og så følge den nyanlagte vej Batterivej til Østerby.

Marinemaleren Carl Locher skildrer Ageposten på dette maleri tilhørende Skagens Kunstmuseer.

I 1874/75 søgte man forgæves Hjørring Amtsråd og Indenrigsministeriet om midler til forbedring af vejen.

Ageposten

In the 1800s, the road between Frederikshavn and Skagen was extremely impassable, especially the last stretch from Aalbæk to Skagen, so land transport was usually by horse-drawn mail wagon, the Ageposten, which from Aalbæk usually chose to follow the beach along the Kattegat to Skagen and leave the beach in Vesterby.

Alternatively, transport was along the coast at Skagerrak to Nordstrand and then follow the newly built road Batterivej to Østerby.

The marine painter Carl Locher depicts Ageposten in this painting belonging to the Skagen Art Museums.

In 1874/75 Skagen unsuccessfully applied Hjørring County Council and the Ministry of the Interior for funds to improve the road.

I 1890 er Aalbækvejen ifølge over-vejinspektørens beretning, så dårlig og sandet at der bør gøres noget ved den - det sker bare ikke og de følgende 40 år fyldes aviserne med skrækberetninger om vejens tilstand.

Med den smalsporede jernbane til Skagen i 1890 blev Ageposten indstillet.

I 1906 indregistreredes det første motorkøretøj i Skagen. Det var urmager Thomas Christensens motorcykel (med registreringsnummer P 1), som han siges at løbe ved siden af når han "kørte".

Først i 1913 blev den første bil indregistreret i Skagen, nemlig Christian Sørrigs taxabil, regnr. P 3. Lidt efter lidt dukkede flere køretøjer op hos de lokale, men også sommergæsterne kom kørende i deres automobiler.

I 1919 klager kantor Hansen Larsen over at der går en udmærket, vel vedligeholdt, makadamiseret chaussé fra Gedser til Aalbæk, men det sidste stykke frem til Danmarks største og mest mondæne badested henligger en hullet opkørt lyngvej!

Kilde: Aalbækvejen, Lokalhistorisk Forening

In 1890, according to the report of the inspector, the Aalbæk road is so bad and sandy that something should be done about it - it just didn't happen and the following 40 years the newspapers are filled with horror stories about the condition of the road.

With the narrow-gauge railway to Skagen in 1890, the Ageposten was discontinued.

In 1906 the first motor vehicle was registered in Skagen. It was Thomas Christensen's motorcycle (with licens number P 1), which he is said to run alongside when "driving".

It was not until 1913 that the first car was registered in Skagen, Christian Sørrig's taxi car, licens number P 3. Little by little more vehicles appeared among the locals, but also the summer visitors came driving in their automobiles.

In 1919, Cantor Hansen Larsen complained that there was an excellent, well-maintained, macadamised causeway from Gedser to Aalbæk, but the last stretch to Denmark's largest and most fashionable seaside resort was a potholed heather road!

Source: Aalbækvejen, Local History Association

Makadam (engelsk: macadam) er en type vejbelægning bestående af grus og sten i forskellige størrelser.

I slutningen af 1700-tallet, da vejbygningen tog fart i Europa, var det en væsentlig motivationsfaktor, at man kunne reducere stenforbruget.

I 1794 foreslog den engelske ingeniør John Lochhead at bygge vejbanen helt af skærver, og hans idé blev videreført fra 1820 af skotten John Loudon McAdam, som ved sin indsats for at udbrede kendskabet for denne konstruktion fik sit navn knyttet til alle skærveveje (makadamiserede veje).

I Danmark blev metoden først indført i 1826. Navnet er gennem tiden forenklet fra MacAdam-belægning til blot at hedde makadam.

Efterhånden som motorkøretøjer blev mere almindelige, begyndte støv at være et problem med denne vejtype, idet de hurtige biler (sammenlignet med hestevogne) hvirvler de fineste partikler på overfladen op på grund af det vakuum, der dannes under og bag bilen.

Dette problem fandt man ud af at løse ved at oversprøjte vejen med tjære. Denne belægning kaldte man i engelsksprogede områder tarmac som en forkortelse af tar (engelsk for tjære) og macadam (engelsk stavemåde).

Makadamteknikken blev i Danmark 1960'erne og 1970'erne efterhånden erstattet med vejbefæstelser af stabilt grus og bundsikring. Problemer med at skaffe tilstrækkelige sand-, grus- og stenmaterialer har imidlertid betydet, at den gamle makadamteknik er ved at få en renæssance.

Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which single-sized crushed stone layers of small angular stones are placed in shallow lifts and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original material) may form; it may also, after rolling, be covered with a binder to keep dust and stones together. The method simplified what had been considered state-of-the-art at that point.

In Denmark, the method was first introduced in 1826. The name has been simplified over time from MacAdam paving to simply macadam.

As motor vehicles became more common, dust began to be a problem with this type of road, the fast cars (compared to horse-drawn carriages) whirling up the finest particles on the surface due to the vacuum created under and behind the car.

This problem was found to be solved by spraying the road with tar. In English-speaking areas, this coating was called tarmac, an abbreviation of tar and macadam.

The macadam technique was gradually replaced in Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s by road pavements of stable gravel and base protection. However, problems in obtaining sufficient sand, gravel and stone materials have meant that the old macadam technique is enjoying a renaissance.

P. Saxberg

Natten mellem den 21. og 22. november 1928 kørte købmand Peter Saxberg fast på strækningen mellem Hulsig og Skagen. Han måtte forlade bilen og gå hjem ad vejen om natten. Han anlagde sag mod Skagen Landsogn og Hjørring Amtsråd for at få betalt udgifterne - kr. 67,00 - ved vognens bjergning den følgende dag.

Retssagen, som Saxberg i øvrigt tabte, blev referet i alle dagblade og var stærkt medvirkende til et forlig mellem ministerium, kommune og amt om vejens istandsættelse og allerede i november 1929 havde kommunen 40 mand i gang med det arbejde som førte til at Aalbækvejen kunne indvies i november 1932.

P. Saxberg

During the night between 21 and 22 November 1928, the merchant Peter Saxberg was stranded on the stretch between Hulsig and Skagen. He had to leave his car and walk home by road at night. He brought an action against Skagen Landsogn and Hjørring County Council to recover the costs - DKK 67.00 - of salvaging the car the following day.

The lawsuit, which Saxberg lost, was reported in all the newspapers and was a major factor in a settlement between the ministry, the municipality and the county on the road's renovation, and by November 1929 the municipality had 40 men at work on the project, which led to the inauguration of the Aalbæk road in November 1932.