Currently, only 100 km (6.8%) of Switzerland’s national motorway network has six lanes – typically three in each direction. 1,311 km (90%) of the network has four lanes, with a remaining 47 km (3.2%) consisting of five lanes.
© Erix2005 | Dreamstime.com
According to NZZ am Sonntag, and reported in 20 Minutes, the Federal Council wants to expand the length of six-lane motorway in Switzerland. The Federal Council told parliament that it would like to see a systematic expansion of six-lane roads within and between major urban centres.
More concretely, the plan would aim to develop motorways linking Zurich, Bern and Basel along with the motorways between Geneva, Lausanne and Basel. In addition, the idea of redesigning motorways around Geneva, Lausanne and Basel into ring roads was mentioned.
Regula Rytz, president of the Greens party, described the plan as controversial and the biggest expansion of Switzerland’s road network in history, pointing out that the road building in the 1970s didn’t consider noise and air pollution.
Thierry Burkart, a member of the PLR (FDP) and vice president of the motoring association TCS, supports the plan because of its goal of maintaining the performance of the road network.
In 1970, Switzerland had 651 km of national motorway. By 2017, this figure had risen 185 % to 1,855 km. Swiss transport infrastructure covers around 2% of the country’s surface and around one third of land containing roads, tracks or buildings. In addition to national motorways there are 17,843 km of cantonal roads and around 52,000 km of municipal roads in Switzerland.
More on this:
20 Minutes article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
Swiss road network statistics (in French)
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Rorie Nazareth says
Without a doubt, if you build it they will come. Having come to Switzerland from Southern California, I know this is definitely true. Best to develop public transport capacities not roads