From the point of view of an American, for example, that's like a road in the north of Alaska, connecting the only two more or less significant towns in something like 100 miles... the area around Kiruna probably has less than one million people in a 1,000 mile radius, it's really a low population area we're talking about.
True, we are only 9 million people total and the north is mostly uninhabited. I totally see how that feels tiny. Anyway by your description I pictured a small winding 1-line 40mph road, not a 55mph banked 2lane road