Leads to Grindavik

In Iceland, a road is being built over hot lava

On Thursday, construction workers began building a new roadway over the still-hot lava, which was covered with a thick layer of gravel.(Bild: x.com (Screenshot))

Last Sunday, glowing lava erupted from a fissure in the earth near the Icelandic coastal town of Grindavik for the fourth time since December. This has also interrupted Grindavíkurvegur, a main road in the southwest of the island that leads to the town and ends there.

In order to re-establish the traffic connection with Grindavik, the Icelanders began repairing the Grindavíkurvegur, which was interrupted by lava and also leads to the famous Blue Lagoon tourist attraction, on Thursday.

Construction workers have begun to build a new route over the still hot lava, which has been covered with a thick layer of gravel and from which smoke is rising in places due to the heat of the lava below. This was reported on Thursday by a reporter from the Icelandic television station RUV.

"Sometimes reminds me of another planet"
"Of course it's very hot here, but we've learned a lot during our work here and know what we can and can't do, and what is even possible. Although sometimes it reminds me more of other planets than Earth," says Einar Már Gunnarsson, the construction manager of the company building the road. This is the first time that a road has been built over lava while the volcano is still erupting.

The route is more or less in the same place as the road before. It will probably be possible to drive on it after the weekend, says Gunnarson. However, the authorities will ultimately decide when traffic on Grindavíkurvegu will be allowed again, he explains. Thermometers have been installed on the road for monitoring purposes - because conditions can change very quickly, an Icelandic news agency reported.

Future of Grindavik is uncertain
The coastal town of Grindavík is located on the Reykjanes peninsula around 55 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik. There have now been four volcanic eruptions on the peninsula since mid-December last year. In January, lava even engulfed three houses on the northern foothills of the village of 4000 inhabitants. The future of the community is uncertain.