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ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – One of Switzerland’s worst spots for traffic jams will get some breathing space, with the Federal Highway Office approving a plan to widen the road from four to six lanes over 12 kilometres of the A1. A 3,300 metre-long additional tube will be added to the Gubrist tunnel.
The project, at a cost of CHF940 million, covers several works: the Weiningen and Affoltern intersections will be redone, a 750 metre viaduc will be built at Katzensee, anti-noise devices are being installed and a new drainage system will be built.
The project has been contentious, particularly over covering the west end of the Gubrist tunnel entrance, which the highway department rejected but which the commune of Weiningen has demanded. Federal, city and village authorities are now involved in talks to find a solution without delaying start of the construction project.
In addition, 113 property owners objected to the price they were offered for the land they are obliged to cede for the project, but their objections were overruled.
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Vaud are looking for the driver of a Seat Combi car with Geneva plates who may have caused an accident Friday morning 19 August at about 05:50 on the A1 autoroute near between Rolle and Aubonne, heading in the direction of Lausanne. The driver left the scene of the accident, which occurred just after the Rolle exit. Police are looking for the driver as well as witnesses.
The driver of a Peugeot 206 was driving at 125kph, according to the driver’s statement, when the Seat Combi passed his and suddenly cut back in just one metre in front, forcing the Peugeot driver to brake suddenly. The Peugeot’s driver lost control and the car fishtailed several times, hitting the central barrier and ending up facing the wrong direction. An Audi A3 was forced to stop abruptly, with his emergency lights flashing, but the driver of the car behind couldn’t avoid it and both cars ended up facing the wrong direction.
The drivers of the Peugeot, the Audi and the fourth car had slight injuries but were not hospitalized.
Anyone who can help clarify the circumstances that led to the accident is asked to contact the nearest police station or call Vaud police: +41 21 644 4444.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The federal highway office’s Truckinfo site for international truck drivers is warning caution on the A1 autoroute, in both directions, between Rolle and Gland, with animals on the road following an accident.
Details are not yet available. The site is updated every few minutes.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A policeman who shot and killed a passenger in a car on the A1 autoroute in 2010 was justified in using his gun, and correct procedures were filed, a Swiss court has ruled. The case was closed 15 June.
The 18-year-old from France who died from a gunshot wound was in a stolen car, one of three luxury cars stolen shortly before from a garage in Fribourg, by a group from Lyon. The brothers came up against a roadblock on the A1 autoroute and when they did not slow down a police officer waiting at the roadblock on the Vaud-Fribourg border opened fire. The youth died at the scene of the accident and his brother was jailed.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several robbers on mopeds stole an unspecified sum of money after attacking the teller at the Raiffeisen Bank in Granges-près-Marnand, a village of 1,200 people 10 km from Payerne, near the A1 autoroute. One of the thieves carried a gun, another a long object.
The robbery occurred at 10:30 Friday morning 8 April, when the teller was alone.
The teller was beaten and threatened, although the injuries did not require hospitalization.
Police say the group escaped on mopeds, two of which carried Valais plates but had been stolen in canton Vaud. The alarm was raised immediately and a large team of police from the canton but also surrounding communities, including dogs and their handlers, failed to turn up the robbers.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Vaud police are seeking witnesses following a fatal accident shortly before 19:00 Thursday evening on the A1 autoroute near Lausanne. A 50-year-old man from Lausanne was critically injured when he lost control of his car for unknown reasons as he was driving in the direction of Crissier from Cossonay, at the Villars-Ste-Croix junction.
The autoroute on the Jura side was closed from 19:25 to 20:40 for the purposes of the police investigation.
The man’s car swerved into the emergency lane, then went off the road and into a guardrail just before a road sign for the junction, travelling some 40 metres along the rail before crashing head-on into the barrier at the junction.
The man was not wearing a seatbelt and he was thrown from the car upon impact.
He was taken to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, where he died during the night.
Police ask that anyone with information that might help the investigation, particularly about the driver’s behaviour before and during the accident, contact them at +41 21 644 4444.
Update, 06:50: questionnaires are being handed out this morning, Thursday, on the A1, the lake road, in trains
Expect delays for the regional travel survey, but take time to contribute
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Commuters and other travellers beware: build in extra time if you are travelling into Geneva, no matter how you are getting there, because of the major regional traffic survey getting underway early Thursday morning 24 March, the group responsible for the survey has told GenevaLunch.
DON’T try to avoid the surveys, authorities beg: this is your opportunity to influence regional travel solutions.
Drivers in particular should expect slowdowns from 06:30-20:00 on the days the survey moves to highways and roads into Geneva, from now until mid-April.
Motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians will also be stopped.
Each road will be surveyed just one day.
The survey is being carried out jointly by French, Geneva and Vaud authorities to obtain a clearer picture of transport needs today and in the future, in order to accurately plan a regional transport programme. They are asking travellers to allow time to help with the survey in order to get a cross-section of the population that is as broad as possible with answers that provide a wealth of information.
Motorists taking the A1 autoroute into Geneva will be pulled over shortly before Founex and drivers on the lake road can also expect to be stopped, but the exact area has not been announced. People taking trains and buses into the city will also be handed surveys.
Police warn that pulling drivers over for the survey will cause traffic delays on roads. These will not be as bad as in 2005 and 2002 when similar surveys were done, police note, with more reinforcements this time to get traffic moving again quickly.
Earlier, detailed announcement, GenevaLunch
Night work on A1
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Continuing roadworks on the A1 between Morges and Ecublens, near Lausanne, will cause disruptions 25-31 July, while traffic signal systems are reinstalled.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane each direction during the nights of Sunday and Monday, with no traffic problems foreseen.
The highway will also be down to one lane each direction Monday afternoon and evening from 14:00-20:00, with delays of 10-15 minutes expected, according to the federal highway department.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - A group of would-be thieves who tried to rob the UBS in Rolle, canton Vaud, made a speedy getaway and succeeded in escaping from police despite a high-speed chase in the early hours of Monday 19 July.
Police were contacted by several neighbours who heard unusual noises and noticed several masked invidividuals around the cash machine at the bank, at 03:20. One of the thieves was trying to remove the machine, using a cable and a Cherokee Jeep stolen shortly before the robbery, but didn’t succeed. The group fled as police arrived on the scene.
They drove off in two cars whose make is not known, say police. A large manhunt was set up immediately by the regional police centre, and they were spotted between Gland and Coppet on the A1 autoroute, traveling at high speed.
A police chase ensued, but they outdistanced the police and were lost heading in the direction of Geneva.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The old A1 autoroute bottleneck around Lausanne, between Morges and Ecublens, is back for 11 days. Road repairs are reducing traffic to two lanes in each direction, limited to 80 kph, starting Monday 5 July. The roadworks are expected to cause 15-20 minute delays in either direction, according to the highway department.
Monday morning’s traffic lived up to expectations, with slow-moving traffic.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A crane at work on the A1 autoroute between Villars-Ste-Croix and Cossonay early Friday morning knocked an overhead signage system when it moved without lowering its arm, forcing the busy road to close from 07:00-10:45 while equipment was called in to stabilize the system.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Vaud Police (Fre)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 18-year-old twin brother of the young man shot by a police officer during a high-speed chase is in prison in Fribourg, the court-appointed lawyer has confirmed to Swiss media. The two were in a stolen car, one of three, when they came up against a police roadblock on the A1 autoroute near the Vaud-Fribourg cantonal line. A police officer shot seven times, killing the passenger in the car. The policeman has been held for questioning on possible involuntary manslaughter charges.
The family of the dead man, minus his twin brother, attended funeral services in Lausanne Thursday 22 April and visited the site on the autoroute where he died. The family, of Kurdish origin, lives in France, near Lyons. The two brothers were part of a group that was stealling three luxury cars from a garage in Fribourg.
Background, GenevaLunch
Link to RSR, public radio in French
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The police officer who shot and killed a youth during a high-speed chase on the A1 autoroute early Sunday is being investigated for homicide, possibly negligent homicide, the judge in charge of the case said Tuesday 20 April. Initial reports mistakenly said that the victim, French, was 20 years old but he was 18, according to the judge. and the driver of the stolen car in which he was a passenger was 20.
The police officer, the only one to use his gun, took seven shots at the car.
Overturned truck on Swiss A1 autoroute, heading into Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The driver of a heavy truck was injured and taken to the hospital in Nyon after his rig overturned about 05:00 Wednesday morning 3 March on the A1 autoroute. The extent of his injuries has not been announced, but police say his life is not in danger. He is, however, being denounced to a judge. (GenevaLunch traffic alert from Wednesday morning)
The driver, in his 20s, had leaned down to pick up a CD that fell on the floor, according to Vaud police, shortly before the Gland exit on the A1 heading towards Geneva. His truck veered onto the shoulder of the road and when he tried to right it, it overturned.
Nyon, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The A1 autoroute will be closed between Nyon and Gland Wednesday night 17 February on the lake side of the road, heading towards Lausanne, from 21:00-05:00. Roadworks which have been going on since late January to repair a damaged bridge joint will be finished on the lake side by 18 February. The road will be closed again 25 February on the Jura side, heading towards Geneva, also from 21:00-05:00, to finish the roadworks and remove equipment.
Heading towards Lausanne, three lanes on the A1 autoroute, January 2010
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss national highway department says that the first month of a Swiss experiment near Lausanne has been successful. Eight months of road works led to the opening in mid-January of emergency lanes to traffic at peak times on the A1 autoroute between Morges and Lausanne. The accident rate in 2009 on the stretch of road was on average one a week, further clogging the road, used by 90,000 drivers a day. There was only one accident during the first month of the new system, one-quarter of the previous rate.
A1 heading into Lausanne, from Morges, three lanes as a temporary measure, January 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The problem of congested roads in regions where some of Switzerland’s worst traffic jams occur inched closer to a solution Friday, when a commission of the Swiss upper house of Parliament agreed to modify regulations governing how certain national road funds are spent.
The commission had asked for a report on how cantons would help fund projects in congested road areas, such as the stretch of A1 autoroute between Versoix and Geneva, and the A1/A9 roads around Lausanne, which routinely have heavy traffic buildups. The problems are expected to worsen in the next 10 years, with the Lake Geneva region one of the fastest growing in Switzerland.
Winter evening autoroute traffic near Morges (Etoy)
Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The electronic signs that warn drivers of slowdowns and accidents on Lake Geneva autoroutes, as well as the Internet service that provides these alerts, are no longer in service, as of Tuesday 1 December. The system has been dismantled to make way for a new real-time system that is part of the widening to six lanes of the Morges-Ecublens stretch on the A1 autoroute near Lausanne. The old system, set up to help drivers during the construction phase that often saw the road reduced to two lanes, will be dismantled 1-4 December to allow tests to be run on the new system for the next six weeks.
The automatic signaling system to alert drivers they may use the extra lanes will be put into operation in the second half of January 2010.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute at the Villars-Ste-Croix/Crissier junction near Lausanne was closed Sunday afternoon shortly after a 22-year-old Vaud motorcyclist was killed when his bike went off the road for reasons that are not yet clear. The young man was heading in the direction of Crissier when his bike went into a post that is part of the security barrier in the centre of the road.
Founex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Motel de Founex may make a Cinderella style transformation if local residents agree to a new Hilton Hotel project that is open to public consultation starting tomorrow, 7 August.
The old motel on the busy Founex-Divonnes road, next to the A1 autoroute and near the Chavannes de Bogis shopping complex, closed several years ago and then gradually disintegrated.
Median strip and emergency bands on the A1 near Morges are being removed to widen the road to six lanes
Morges, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The roadworks to enlarge the A1 autoroute between Morges and Lausanne are on schedule, with no major incidents to report during the major holiday departures at the start of July, says the Swiss Highways Office in its latest update on the project’s progress.
The work to build three emergency stops areas on the Jura side of the road (direction: Lausanne-Geneva) will be completed by August, and cables have now been laid for the automatic traffic data and alerts.
Morges, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute was completely closed to traffic between Tuesday night 2 June from 20:30 and 05:30 Wednesday morning, in both directions between Morges-Ouest and Ecublens. The highly unusual move by the federal roads department was made to allow the second of phase of work to begin. The project to enlarge the highway from four to six lanes began in early May and will last until December 2010.
The second phase, in June and July, will rebuild the Jura side of the road, Lausanne-Geneva direction. The work involves:
