Major Swiss highway programme changes announced

Annual highway tax/sticker to jump from CHF40 to 100 by 2015

GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The roadworks weren’t welcome at the time, but the switch in Morges from two to three lanes during rush hour, using  emergency lanes, has been such a success at reducing traffic jams that the Federal Highway Office plans to set up the same system in Geneva and Lausanne.

The measure is part of a series of highway improvements announced by Bern Wednesday 18 January, with the focus on shifting 378km of cantonal roads to the national highway system by 2014, to better  needs  today that are the result of a series of urban developments over the past five decades.

Morges again has special treatment, with the office adding a Morges bypass to the list of projects to be developed sooner rather than later, to ease the growing congestion in the Crissier area. The cost: CHF220 million. Details of a likely bypass, published in 2009, call for a larger loop from Morges Ouest (west) to Ecublens.

The A1 around Morges was given three lanes in 2009, for rush hours

The package includes traffic flow improvements for Coppet-Le Vengeron, at a cost of CHF175m.

The number of kilometres driven on Swiss autoroutes has doubled since 1990. Recent studies show a 34 percent increase in 2010 in the number of hours of traffic jams, to 15,910, compared to 2009 In the next 18 years, some 400km of autoroute will regularly suffered congestion.

The Morges area switch to three lanes during rush hours has improved traffic flow, the highway department says, lowered the accident rate by 15 percent in general and 80 percent locally, and it has also brought about a 20 percent reduction in pollution next to roads: CO, CO2 and NOx emissions.

Bern and Winterthur will see their emergency lanes changed in the near future, with Geneva and Lausanne, but also several other areas including stretches along Lake Zurich, scheduled for later.

Automatic signals to reduce speed for better traffic flow to go from 85km to 400km

Studies show that slowing traffic down to 100 or 80kph when traffic is dense improves the flow of traffic, according to the highway department. The country currently has 85km of signs that change depending on traffic levels, with the autoroute around Geneva one of the main areas. The system will be extended to cover 400km in the next few years, with heavy traffic areas such as Coppet-Geneva and Lausanne included in plans.

Cost to be covered in part by autoroute use tax hike

The changes will require some CHF305 million a year, to be funded in part by an increase in the price of the autoroute sticker, from CHF40 to 100 a year. Switzerland uses an autoroute annual use tax in place of tolls.

The change is expected to go into effect in 2015 and will be accompanied by the introduction of a two-month sticker for CHF40.

Detailed description of traffic needs and projected plans for the country, from 2009 (pdf)

Earlier announcement of changes, GenevaLunch March 2011

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