Swiss autoroute jam earlier in the week, on the A9
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The Gotthard tunnel at noon Friday 6 March had stationary traffic for 9 km on the north side, as Good Friday traffic builds up, the federal road service’s Truckinfo site shows. Traffic is very slow heading south from Chur due congested conditions, but several other parts of the country, particularly autoroutes around urban centres, have very slow traffic doe to accidents and road works.
The site is updated every five minutes.
Check the Easter traffic alert from the Swiss highway department for peak times on main routes.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The UK budget, to be unveiled Wednesday 21 March, could well hold some surprises, but one of its most unusual features is already under discussion: a partial privatization plan that would allow wealth funds from sovereign states to lease British motorways and highways. The Guardian reports that “In his most eye-catching proposal, [Prime Minister David] Cameron will announce that the Treasury and Department for Transport are to carry out a feasibility study looking at using private-sector funds to improve and maintain trunk roads and motorways.”
China is one of the targeted countries, but any funds investing in the roads programme would need to meet a set of targets to improve roads and reduce congestion, areas where the government says Britain is falling behind.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, reports the Wall St Journla, says that “the bulk of the measures in the budget will be aimed at helping low and middle income earners, in a move that is likely to appease junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats and offset speculation about a controversial cut to the top income tax rate.”
Links to other sites: Guardian, Independent, Wall St Journal
Click on images to view larger: Valais avalanche, Lake Geneva ice skirts being formed
Bern man dies in Valais avalanche
Aminona, near Crans-Montana, Saturday morning: no wind, very thin stratus veiling blue skies
Update 11 February 14:10 GENEVA / SION, SWITZERLAND – There is good news for skiers: the strong winds that were forecast have died down and slopes are open everywhere, with blue skies the rule.
Verbier and Crans-Montana both are showing zero wind, slopes open and sun despite a veil of early stratus clouds.
The south side of the Alps, notably around Zermatt, has less stratus and the sunny slopes are virtually all open.
Time for skis, snowboards and sleds!
Avalanche risk moderate, but one man dead following Valais snow pack slide
A 48-year-old Bern man died at noon Saturday, 23 hours after being caught by an avalanche in canton Valais.
Three power station employees, one of them a mountain guide, were checking snow conditions at Obergesteln and as they headed back, crossing a slope at 13:00 at Sidelhorn, the avalanche struck. Two of the men were caught by sliding plates of snow, 200 metres long and 100 metres wide. One was able to free himself and he and the man who was not hit were able to quickly free their colleague. A rescue team arrived rapidly and he was flown to hospital in Sion, but he died from his injuries Saturday.
Avalanche situation: the risk level is 2-3/5 throughout the Alps, relatively low.
Icy roads raise accident risk
A 52-year-old man is in critical condition, with fears for his life, at the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne after being hit by a car in Villars-sur-Ollon Friday morning at 09:00. A driver heading down towards the plain did not see the man, who was using a pedestrian crossing, until too late, and skidded into the victim, on the cantonal road at Chesières.
On the plain, around Lake Geneva, the wind will continue to blow, with the icy bise wind gusting in some areas, until Sunday, says MeteoSwiss.
Ice skirts on jetties continue to form thanks to strong winds on Lake Geneva, Friday
The amazing natural ice sculptures fringing Lake Geneva are generally the result of strong winds blowing lake water onto boats, buoys, jetties, boardwalks and plants. The blend of sunshine and glacial temperatures causes a continual melt-freeze action, smoothing them down until the next blast of wind brings a new layer of lake water from Europe’s deepest lake.
Lake Geneva put on one of its wonderful colour shows Friday, with the water ranging from brown to green to deep blue and violet, thanks to the wind whipping it up for several hours.
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:39)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:40)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:40)
Lake Geneva blowing onto jetty in St Prex (16:24:41)
Avalanche in Obergesteln, canton Valais, Friday
Avalanche at Sidelhorn, Obergesteln, 200 metres wide and 100 metres long (photo, Valais police)
Sidelhorn avalanche (photo, Valais police)
Sidelhorn avalanche (photo, Valais police)
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
Editor Ellen Wallace shot this view out her kitchen window Thursday night, dimpled snow lit by a farmer's tractor headlights - by morning there was an additional foot of snow and the surface was smooth and white
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Friday 14:30, 6 January: snow has been falling steadily and heavily in many parts of Switzerland for the past 36 hours, with Crans-Montana and other resorts recording 100cm of fresh snow at 3,000 metres in the past 24 hours.
Most resorts are closed due to very high winds and heavy snow.
Canton Valais police say they received 1,200 phone calls between 08:00 Thursday and midnight, with flooding and fallen trees as well as electricity out in some areas. St Niklaus in the Goms Valley was without electricity and phones for several hours.
Main roads in Valais remain open but local road-clearing services are pushed to their limits and side roads above about 1,000 metres are closed or not completely cleared in many areas.
The CFF rail company says most trains are running, but several smaller trains up to mountain areas are not running, including Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye, Aigle to Diableret, Martigny-Le Chable, the funiculaire from Sierre to Crans-Montana, several Interlaken lines (Murren, Grindelwald, Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfraujoch) and the Valais-Bern train for cars is operating irregularly, with no stops at Goppenstein since the road between there and Goppel is closed.
Kloten airport had several delays due to and snow, but mid-afternoon Friday most flights are back on schedule. Geneva airport has not been affected by the weather in the rest of the country. Zurich and central Switzerland had winds up to 120kph, reports swissinfo.
The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, WSL, has issued a bulletin showing the avalanche risk at 4/5 (high) in eastern Vaud, most of Valais and Graubuenden:
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 56-year-old Swiss man who lived in Ain, France, died late Wednesday 5 October when his motorcycle and a car collided head on, on the Route de Mandemant in Russin, on the outskirts of Geneva.
The man was weaving his way downhill when he attempted to pass one or several cars, say Geneva police, and he was surprised by an oncoming car driven by a 45-year-old woman, who was uninjured but treated for shock. The man died at the scene of the crash.
The man’s death is the ninth on Geneva roads this year and the fourth serious accident involving motorcycles in eastern Switzerland in the past five days, with two other deaths and one person in critical condidtion.
Police are looking for witnesses, who are asked to call +41 22 427 64 50.
School is starting: watch out for little people crossing the road!
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Cantons Geneva and Vaud are back in school today, 29 August, and police are reminding motorists to slow down near schools.
School buses at Ecolint, the popular name for the campuses of the International School of Geneva, will start the year Thursday 1 September with a difference: the school has been working with EPFL in Lausanne to come up with the most efficient, environmentally-friendly system for its fleet of school buses in the two cantons.
“Our student population is increasing rapidly,” said Michel Chinal, responsible for the project shortly before his retirement in June. He noted that the rising number of parents picking up and dropping off their children is creating traffic problems in the village of Founex, just outside Geneva. The bus service offered by the school is too slow. The Founex campus, La Chataigneraie, will be adding nearly 300 students with its new primary school opening this week.
“Parents often say that they would like to sign their children up, but the bus ride is too long,” according to Chinal. The school transports nearly 300 students in an area bounded by Morges in Vaud, neighbouring France and Geneva.
The solution was to work with mathematicians in EPFL’s Discrete Optimization Group.
EPFL chemist Rainer Beck, whose child attends the school, offered to optimize the service and he asked his mathematical colleague Friedrich Eisenbrand to tackle the problem.
Eisenbrand notes that “coming up with a simple arithmetic algorithm is not difficult. But that’s not an efficient approach; due to the enormous number of possible itineraries, the calculations are painfully slow. We needed to develop an algorithm that quickly rejected most routes, so that the computation could be completed before the end of the Universe.”
Risenbrand and PhD student Adrian Bock came up with a solution for this complex problem. Using a few clever techniques, says EPFL, the calculations only take half a day to complete.
Motorcyclists and bicyclists account for 45% of victims who die or suffer serious injuries in road accidents
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The number of people who died or were injured in road accidents in Switzerland fell below 20,000 in 2010, for the first time since the 1950s, numbers released 19 July show.
Federal Statistical Office annual figures show that 327 people died in road accidents, 4,458 were seriously injured and 19,779 suffered lighter injuries.
The figures show a steady drop since 1992: 61 percent fewer road deaths and 47 percent fewer serious injuries.
Of the 4,785 victims of serious accidents (death, serious injuries) 1,410 were in cars and 1,283 on motorcycles, 864 were on bicycles and 781 were pedestrians.
Motorcyclists are victims of a far higher number of serious accidents in summer, with the figures for deaths and serious injuries almost the same as those for people in cars even though there are far fewer cars on the roads.
The number of bicyclists injured fell in 2010, but the number of pedestrians injured rose. Pedestrians are particularly vulnerable in winter.
“Inattention” is the leading factor behind accidents, with mobile phone use increasingly cited. Inappropriate speed and not giving priority are two other main factors, according to the statistical data.
Ed. note: TSR, in a related article, notes that Geneva and Zurich have the highest car insurance rates in Switzerland
Forecast is for more of the same
Update 14 July 10:00 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Thunderstorms and heavy rains are taking their toll in central and eastern Switzerland, with emergency services taking calls for pleasure craft in trouble on the lakes, trees down on roads, cellars flooded.
Torrential rains in parts of Valais are prompting fears of flooding in Zermatt (video, 20 Minutes) and the A2 autoroute in Ticino was cut off between Lugano and Mendrisio by a mudslide late Wednesday.
In the Bernese Oberland the Schynige Platte rail line was cut off by fallen trees and 64 passengers had to be evacuated by helicopters.
Zurich has had the most rain, according to TSR, with 40cm/m2 at the airport.
MeteoSwiss is predicting more of the same until at least mid-day Thursday in western Switzerland and Saturday in the central and eastern parts of the country.
Photos below, taken from the same spot in Valais during one hour, show the rapidly changing weather in the Alps. Click on images to view larger.
Swiss Alpine storm pummels garden 13 July
Heavy sheets of rain swept across the Alps Wednesday
Val d'Anniviers, storms come to an end
Val d'Anniviers, end of storm 13 July 2011
Not a cloud in the sky - storms have moved on to eastern Switzerland
The clouds are not quite ready to call it a day! Hikers, beware.
Italian side of the Simplon pass, March 2011
Updae 19:00 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Valais re-opened the Simplon road pass between Italy and Switzerland Friday morning after closing it for more than 24 hours following a fire in the Simplon rail tunnel. The fire broke out in a freight train early Thursday shortly after the train left Iselle, in Italy, heading for Switzerland. There were no injuries, but as of Friday afternoon smoke was still a problem in the tunnel and trains are being rerouted until at least Saturday noon.
The CFF rail companies has announced the following changes, until further notice:
Passengers from Basel, Geneva and Lausanne heading for Milan: take another route
Passengers travelling from Geneva / Lausanne to Milan’s Central station should take the EuroCity trains (EC) Genève – Lausanne – Milano Centrale and change in Brig + Domodossola. The CFF asks passengers to allow for a longer travelling time.
Passengers travelling from Basel SBB / Olten / Bern to Milano Centrale or vice versa should travel via Luzern / Zürich HB – Chiasso and allow for a longer travelling time.
Hotline
The CFF rail company hotline for updates, from inside Switzerland: 0800 99 66 33.
Ed. note: Barbara Ender, an occasional contributor to GenevaLunch, is a Lausanne-based travel editor.
Walking through history
By Barbara Ender
Zadar, Croatia (©2011, Barbara Ender)
“Would you like a free hug?”
An offer I couldn’t refuse. I turned to see a group of cheerful girls in orange T-shirts, opened my arms and embraced all the youth and joie de vivre of Zadar. A memorable, tactile introduction to one of Croatia’s most delightful cities, golden, vibrant, resilient, young at heart.
Young at heart—but old in its bones. The city is built on a peninsula, just 1km long and 300m wide. Founded by Illyrians 3,000 years ago, it has been ruled and planned by Romans, Byzantines, Franks and Venetians, attacked by Ottomans, ravaged by Huns, Ostrogoths, Crusaders and bubonic plague, bombed by the Allies in the second world war and shelled by Krajina rebels and the Yugoslav People’s Army from 1991 to 1995.
Rebuilt, restored, snug within its massive Venetian ramparts, it is a crazy quilt of architectural styles, and a miracle of survival.
Zadar, Croatia, side street (©2011, Barbara Ender)
Most visitors arrive on cruise ships or ferries and enter the city from the harbour at the western end, but I was staying overnight in a big hotel outside the walls on the mainland.
As the afternoon began to close, I walked past the tiny Fosa marina, beneath the sculpted Venetian lion on the Land Gate, through the walls into the long and narrow main street that follows the course of the ancient Roman cardo towards its crossing with the decumanus at the Forum.
On each side, enticing little side streets beckon, some dark and mysterious, others gleaming red and ochre in the dwindling light, others trying to lure me into ancient peeling courtyards festooned with laundry. High heels clatter along the limestone pavement, giggling students pass by, two to a bicycle, but I walk straight on, intent on my goal.
Kevin Loetscher reportedly hit by car while walking
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Vaud say a motorcyclist was killed Friday evening on the Ollons Villars-Road, and in canton Valais, a young woman driver who was over the legal limit for alcohol, hit two pedestrians early Sunday. One of those she hit is reported by the Tribune de Geneve to be Swiss hockey player Kevin Loetscher, age 23. Loetscher, notes the Tribune, was one of the most valuable players on the Swiss team, which had just returned from the World Championship in Slovakia.
Valais police have not identified the victims of the accident that took place at 04:30 15 May near a roundabout that is next to the hospital in Sierre. A 21-year-old was slightly injured when he was caught by the edge of the car, but the 23-year-old victim was hit straight on and hospitalized in critical condition. The pair were walking along the edge of the road when they were hit by a 19-year-old woman, whose car came to a stop 20 metres later, say police.
She tested positive for drinking, with an alcohol blood level of 1.56. Switzerland’s legal limit is 0.5.
Vaud motorcyclist dies on Villars-Ollon road
A motorcyclist in his thirties lost his life Friday evening at 18:50 when he was thrown after being hit by a car near Glutières, on the road from Villars to Ollon. He was attempting to pass several cars when one of them swerved to the left. The violent impact led to his death shortly after, despite immediate efforts to save him, say police in canton Vaud.
The road was closed to traffic while police investigated the cause of the accident.
Expect disruptions as the race moves through canton Vaud
Start to the Tour de Romandie (photo: Sam' place on flickr: flickr.com/photos/sam-s-place/
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Tour de Romandie, a five-day bike race, was off to a sunny start Wednesday 27 April, running from Martigny in Valais to Leysin in Vaud. Brutt Pavel, Russian, led the group at the end of the first day.
Police in cantons Vaud and Geneva are warning drivers to be patient if they find themselves near the race between now and Sunday 1 May. Roadblocks will be put in place temporarily and drivers will have to cool their heels while the racers run through the area.
The itinerary provided by Vaud police
2nd stage, Romont – Romont, Thursday 28 April 2011:
Canton de Fribourg – Sédeilles (13h31) – Rossens – Canton de Fribourg – Chesalles (14h20) – Oron-le-Châtel – Oron-la-Ville – Canton de Fribourg – Brenles (14h55) – Sarzens – Curtilles – Dompierre – Villars-Bramard – Villarzel – Rossens (15h25) – Canton de Fribourg
3rd stage, Thierrens – Neuchâtel, Friday 29 April 2011:
Thierrens (11h15) – St-Cierges – Peyres-Possens – Bottens – Cugy – Froideville (11h41) – Peney-le-Jorat – Corcelles-le-Jorat – Carrouge (11h58) – Vucherens - Marnand (12h30) – Avenches – Faoug (13h00) – Canton de Fribourg
Against the clock / Aubonne – Signal de Bougy, Saturday 30 April 2011:
Aubonne, Place de l’Ancienne Gare (roads completely closed starting at noon) – Lavigny – St-Livres – Bière – Saubraz – Gimel – Pizy – Signal de Bougy (open about 18h30)
5th stage, Champagne – Geneva, Sunday 1 May 2011:
Champagne (10h00) – Fontaines/Grandson – Fiez – Grandson – Les Tuileries – Peney – Baulmes (10h32) – Ballaigues – Vallorbe – Pompaples – La Sarraz – Cossonay-Ville – La Chaux – Cuarnens – Mont-la-Ville – Col du Mollendruz (12h05) – L’Abbaye – Les Bioux – L’Orient – Le Brassus – Col du Marchairuz (12h42) – St-Georges – Gimel – Mont/Rolle – Bursins – Vinzel – Dully – Gland – Nyon (13h22) – Crans/Céligny – Coppet – Canton Geneva.
Woman killed near Founex, cyclist killed, driver caught going 201 kph on Valais autoroute
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The long weekend in most of Switzerland, for Easter holidays, has seen a number of incidents on highways and local roads, including a fatal accident near Coppet, canton Vaud, on the A1 autoroute. A cyclist in Geneva was injured when he was hit by a car on the Rue de Lausanne, and two men were stopped for driving at very high speeds in canton Valais.
Woman killed at 9pm Sunday while walking on autoroute
A woman in her fifties was killed after being hit by a car while walking along the A1 autoroute on the Jura side (direction: Geneva) Sunday night 24 April, for unknown reasons. Police have not released any information about her identity. She was hit near Chavannes-des-Bois, near the Coppet/Founex/Divonnes exit, at 21:00.
Her body was thrown across the autoroute and was subsequently hit by several drivers on the lake side of the road.
The autoroute was closed between Vengeron and Coppet, except for one lane in the direction of Geneva, on the Jura side of the road.
Cyclist killed near Satigny, another cyclist injured on Rue de Lausanne in Geneva – driver flees
A 76-year-old man was killed at a roundabout between Meyrin and Satigny, near Geneva, Saturday afternoon when a 22-year-old driver hit the back of his bike for reasons not yet clear. Police are asking for witnesses to contact them at 0+41 22 427 6450.
A second Geneva accident involving a cyclist occurred late Saturday in the city centre. A driver who was headed in the direction of Versoix left the scene of the accident Saturday night near number 14, Rue de Lausanne in Geneva, after hitting the back of a bicycle that was in the pedestrian crosswalk, at 23:05. The 28-year-old woman cyclist fell from her bike and was injured. Witnesses say the car was a dark station wagon, number plates not identifiable. Police in Geneva are asking for witnesses to phone +41 22 427 6450.
Two young men lose licenses on same stretch of A9, near Fully
Canton Valais Police stopped two drivers within seconds, on the same stretch of A9 autoroute near Fully Sunday 24 April at 14:30. The first, a Portuguese man, age 26, was clocked at 201 kph, heading towards Sion. The second, a 23-year-old man from Valais, was clocked at 174 kpm. The speed limit on the autoroute is 120 kph. Police took their driver’s licenses on the spot and they are being handed over to the cantonal public attorney for prosecution as well as the highway department, which has responsibility for licenses and fines related to speeding.
Easter weekend: sunshine, warm temperatures iln most of Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The weather forecast for Switzerland is for sunshine and more of it, with a few drops of rain in northeastern Switzerland on Sunday 24 April. Lows of 6-7C and highs of 23 in Geneva to 26 in most other areas. The southeast corner of the country, around Samedan, is the one chilly patch, with temperatures of -2 to 14C.
Easter Friday and Monday traffic on roads: expect delays, look for alternative routes
School holidays began in a dozen cantons Thursday afternoon, and traffic began to build up quickly on roads heading south. By Friday morning at 08:00 the logjam on the north side of the St Gotthard tunnel was already 4 km long, with a one-hour wait. Friday is expected to be a heavy travel day on all main roads in Switzerland, so expect slowdowns.
Road forecasts are available in French from TCS (Touring Club Suisse), which suggests that drivers heading south from French-speaking areas use alternatives to the St Gotthard, which is a main European north-south road, taking for example the Grand St Bernard route. The Swiss Highway Office’s web site for trucks is updated every minute or so, giving real-time information on traffic situations, one of the best sites for this. TSR, Swiss public television, also has good traffic situation maps.
Schools that have been on spring break for the past two weeks, including many in Geneva and Vaud, return Tuesday, and Monday is forecast to be a very heavy traffic day on roads.
Airports and roads to them are also expected to be busier than usual, so build in extra travel time.
The CFF rail company recommends reserving ahead for international trains.
Job of convincing Bern, which has the final word, could be tough, say cantonal authorities
Bridge preferred over tunnel, but both options kept
New autoroute proposal backed by canton Geneva for Lake Geneva crossing
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva is ready to push for an extension of the autoroute across the lake by 2030, arguing that it would ease city traffic by 30 percent and the ring road around Geneva by 12 percent.
The canton presented its project at a press conference Monday morning 11 April, the result of a three-year lake crossing feasibility study that cost CHF3.5 million.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge. It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
Two options are provided, one for a tunnel and the other for a bridge, but in both cases a tunnel under Choulex on the left bank, to preserve the Seymaz plain, is included. The bridge is currently considered the better option, from a safety and cost perspective. It’s too early, howevr, to exclude the option of a tunnel under the lake, say authorities. Further studies are needed that take into consideration new technologies that could be used for a tunnel.
City centre traffic would be reduced by 30,000 a day from current level
New bridge or tunnel to cross Lake Geneva would go from Vengeron, near Bellevue, on the left side of this photo, across to Bellerive, near Collonge (city centre to the right; photo taken from Chambesy)
Some 150,000 vehicles currently use the main routes through the city and across the Mont Blanc bridge. Cantonal projections show this figure rising to 170,000 by 2030.
If the new plan is adopted, traffic would fall to 120,000 vehicles a day through the city centre to cross the lake.
For people living near the two new autoroute junctions or further out and therefore using them, the lake crossing would be reduced in time by 35 percent, according to the report issued Monday.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge.
It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
The cost of the project is estimated at CHF3.1 billion for a bridge and CHF3.7b for a tunnel, without including various options to make improvements to city spaces and public transport as a result.
Bern’s current plan: reduce Geneva congestion by adding lanes to ring road autoroute
The arguments for and against a Lake Geneva crossing have raged in the canton for several years, but the biggest hurdle now could be the Swiss federal government, which has owned and is responsible for all national highways since 2008. Bern currently is considering plans to enlarge the ring road around the city in several places, from two to three lanes, to allow it to handle 115,000 vehicles a day. It can currently take a maximum load of 80,000.
Feasibility study report, in French, with annexes (including environmental impact)
Geneva, Lausanne and Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A French man in his 30s died Friday morning when he lost control of his car on a bend on the St Cergues road, Vaud police say. He was travelling from La Cure to St Cergue when he missed a left bend at Cheseaux, about 10:15. The car hit a rocky bank and rolled over, landing on its roof.
The driver was unconscious when emergency services arrived and he died shortly afterwards.
The victim was a resident of France.
The St Cergue road was closed from 10:30 to 14:00 for the police investigation.
Geneva youth’s scooter was hit by truck
A 20-year-old on a scooter died Thursday evening after he was hit by a truck near 7, Route des Jeunes in Geneva. He died at the scene of the accident. He was heading towards Jonction, after the Etoile junction, when the truck, which was using the delivery quai at number 7, hit the scooter.
Tibet roadside view (photo, Liam Bates)
The Chinese government is using the March anniversary of the Tibetan uprising in 1952 to underscore its commitment to better connecting the distant western province to the rest of the country by detailing its transport plans. A new rail line, as part of the 2011-2015 Five Year Plan, will link Golmud in northwestern Qinghai Province and Korla in Xinjiang, the vice-governor of Qinghai, Luo Yulin, said in Beijing 6 March. The new rail connection will cut 1,000 km from the current rail link between Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, currently a 4,000km journey.
The official notes that two other major railway lines are to be built in the west, between Golmud and Dunhuang in Gansu Province, and between Golmud and Chengdu in Sichuan Province, and local authorities are also considering lines linking Xining with Chengdu, and Xining with Kunming in Yunnan Province, reports Xinhua news agency.
A new highway programme for the Tibet Autonomous Region will increase roads in the vast area from the current 58,000km to 70,000km, and by 2015 all Tibetan villages should be accessible by blacktop road, Li Shenglin, China’s transport minister says. Xinhua reports that “an expressway network, or ’4-hour economic zone’, linking five major cities, Lhasa, Xigaze, Nagqu, Shannan and Nyingchi” will put the last four cities all within four hours of Lhasa by car.
Swiss law requires drivers to have clean windshields and the snow brushed off the car
Update 10:55 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - There has been so little snow this winter it is easy for drivers to forget to check their routes, but snow has returned, Thursday morning 24 February, with the snow line on the lakefront in the Lake Geneva region.
TSR’s road information (Fre, map) and the federal truck road alerts (Eng, map) provide current state of traffic information. The Lausanne-Pontarlier area has slowdowns due to snow, and traffic is restricted in several mountain areas.
There is icy snow at 700 metres.
Reminder: you are legally required to have snow tires in Switzerland when travelling under snowy conditions and if you’re taking a mountain pass you should have chains in the car.
GPS, cell phones, Alpine right of way – how to get where you’re going, trouble-free
Furka pass, Switzerland
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Friday 18 February is the start of a busy time on mountain roads in Switzerland, the peak time for school holidays and families heading for the mountains.
For those unfamiliar with mountain roads, or the rest of us who can always use a refresher, here are the basics, from canton Vaud:
- On steep roads, do not brake excessively because this can cause brakes to overheat and quit working. Stop and turn off the car for a few minutes when you can, to let it cool down.
- If the road is too narrow for cars in both directions to pass, the car coming down the hill should stop to give the right of way to the car coming up the hill. If there still is not room the car coming down is expected to back up. Exception: if the car coming up is clearly close to a place where there is room to pull over, it should do so.
- Groups of vehicles, such as several trucks, have priority over individual cars. Trucks and buses have priority over cars. Buses have priority over trucks.
- On narrow passes/tunnels in the mountains, you must be able to stop half the way of the distance that is visible (see sketch below).
- Narrow mountain postal roads: follow the instructions of the public transport driver or employee, if these are given.
- This is not a rule, but common mountain courtesy, worth respecting: if you are driving more slowly than the local drivers who know the roads, pull over when you can, and let them pass. Many mountain roads have no passing zones for several kilometres. This applies to going up or going down: you can discourage other drivers from passing imprudently.
Below: be sure you can stop halfway to your visible distance point. More illustrations: Vaud highway department
What the Swiss mean when they say distracted driving
Police in some cantons are stricter than in others (I once heard a police officer from another canton ask jokingly “they have police in Valais?”). The same basic rules of the road apply in Switzerland, and these cover “distracted driving”. Some 10,000 drivers lost their licenses in Switzerland in 2010 for distracted driving, mainly for using GPS navigation systems and cell phones.
The rules says that a driver must give his or her attention to the road and avoid doing anything that makes it more difficult to drive the vehicle. Children fighting in the back seat come to mind, but the law is more specific: the driver’s attention “must not be distracted, in particular, by any sound reproduction system or any information or communication system”.
Even more specifically: the fine for using a telephone without a hands-free system is CHF100.
GenevaLunch asked Jean-Christophe Sauterel of Canton Vaud Police to clarify what the rules mean, since GPS and cell phone use is not outlawed and cars have CD players. “It’s up to the police to decide, but the determining factor is whether or not the driver is distracted. If he’s weaving, crossing the line, that’s a sign he’s distracted.”
The police do not decide if a license will be lifted, although they have the right to remove it pending a decision: the Service de Navigation, or cantonal vehicle service, makes that decision, based on the police officer’s report.
“If you’re driving with earphones or the music so loud you don’t hear emergency vehicles, that’s distracted driving,” he says. What about eating a picnic lunch while you’re driving?
“We don’t want to keep people from eating or drinking in the car if they want to,” he laughs. “Well, unless it’s alcohol, of course! But the real question is: is the driver distracted.”
Other drivers sometimes denounce to the police a driver who worries them because of erratic driving, and the police may take these observations into consideration.
If you’re eating a sandwich and reading instructions for reaching your chalet and you answer your cell phone, all while trying to follow the GPS, and your speed shifts from 120kph to 60 and back up to 90, expect trouble.
Watch the accelerator when in Switzerland: police caught more speeders in 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The only group of lawbreakers on Swiss roads whose numbers remained stable in 2010 were foreigners, figures released Tuesday 8 February indicate.
The federal highway department issued its annual statistics for driver’s licenses that were taken away, showing a 5.4 percent increase to nearly 79,000 drivers. Most, 63 percent, were lifted for three months, and the age group most affected was 20 to 29 year olds.
There was a sharp rise in the number of people who have lost their licenses for an indefinite period, 17.8 percent of all licenses revoked.
Swiss police cannot revoke a foreign driver’s license, but foreigners can have their right to drive in Switzerland taken away. The number of foreign drivers banned from Swiss roads in 2010 remained virtually the same, just over 18,000.
The three main reasons for taking away a license remain excessive speeding, drunkenness and distracted driving. The number of speeders who lost their licenses rose 1.2 percent to 35,427, while 18,371 people were caught with alcohol levels above 0.8 per 1,000 (legal limit is 0.5) and another 6,700 were given warnings for being over 0.5.
Nearly 10,000 people lost their licenses for distracted driving, a growing problem, with the increase abovve 12 percent last year. Most of these are people distracted by GPS navigation systems or cell phones, according to the highway department.
An Ontario company that will soon become the world’s largest salt mine, according to the Toronto Sun, is beaming over the heavy snowfalls of recent days. About 80 percent of the salt mined by Sifto Salt Mine goes to salt winter roads, and the end of 2010 has given the company such a bonus of snowstorms that it has taken back 65 of the 80 employees it let go after a less snowy 2009-2010 winter. The company recently invested $75 million in storage facilities and a newer system for bringing salt to the surface, a “skipping system”. It supplies a large part of Canada and the Midwest in the US with road salt.
More snow!
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Christmas snow has begun to fall steadily, and up to 10cm are expected on the plain, with 20cm at higher altitudes, but early afternoon 24 December showed relatively few signs of the winter weather snarls neighbouring France and Germany are experiencing. Geneva’s Cointrin Airport recommends that travellers arrive at least two hours before departure for all flights, given that up to 56,000 passengers are expected on Sunday, with traffic building up from the 20,000 travellers handled by the airport on a normal day.
Flights, trains and road traffic in France are all snarled by fresh snow on Christmas Eve day, throughout the country, with repercussions in neighbouring countries. Flights from Paris to Switzerland in the early afternoon were cancelled, although some later flights are still displayed as operating. Train stations are expected to handle some two million people over the Christmas weekend, with 800,000 Friday 24 December alone. Areas along the eastern borders with Germany and Switzerland as well as mountain regions further south are on orange alert for icy, snowy roads. Traffic at noon Friday was disrupted particularly in the Calais area and Charles-de-Gaulles Roissy
German train service was disrupted between Berlin and Hannover for several hours late Thursday when lines were iced over, stopping five intercity trains for five hours. Rail delays are expected to continue throughout Friday. Germany has also seen several highway accidents due to ice, with North Rhine Westphalia recording 1,734 accidents in 24 hours, according to The Local, Germany. A 24km tailback was formed, heading into Munich, after a spectacular pileup that involved 51 vehicles on the A9 motorway.
Belgium is also experiencing traffic problems due to snow, with flights from Brussels airport delayed and in some cases cancelled.
Roads in the UK are mostly cleared, according to the Guardian, allowing motorists a chance to get away for Chistmas, but it points to a reminder from the Automobile Association that stopping takes 10 times longer on icy, snowy roads than under normal conditions, so leave plenty of space between cars.
Links to other sites: Geneva Airport departures and arrivals, Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), The Local (Ger), TSR (Fre)
Few ventured out early Wednesday morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
An aptly named street Wednesday morning
Update 09:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The overnight snowfall throughout the Lake Geneva region is causing major traffic disruptions Wednesday 1 December. Cointrin Airport in Geneva is closed until at least 14:00 and travellers are being advised to check with their airlines.
The TPG in Geneva decided early in the morning not to run any of its buses and trams until further notice. The Tribune de Geneve is providing regular updates on the city’s public transport situation, as is RSR, which says some trams are running in the city, at 08:00.
Geneva, with 20 cm of fresh snow overnight, and more falling, has been the hardest hit area, according to MeteoSwiss reports.
Roads are considered moderately dangerous, with icy conditions, from Geneva to Lausanne and up the hillsides to the Jura. Road conditions in Valais are good, with less fresh snow than around the lake.
Everyone's new best friend, on a topsy-turvy snowy morning (Saint Prex, canton Vaud)
Lausanne’s public transport is running, with relatively minor delays, after 10 cm of snow fell overnight.
The CFF Swiss train system is operating, but with some delays: details for delayed trains and a map are updated frequently. Passengers were stranded Tuesday evening along the Lausanne-Geneva line when the Intercity train had a technical problem from about 18:00-20:00, but the problem was not weather-related.
The Swiss highway department’s truck info road updates and TCS (Touring Club Suisse) provide details of congestion and closed roads, with traffic in the Lausanne-Geneva area slow Wednesday morning, but with fewer people than usual on the road before 08:00, reports one commuter.
Schools are open in Geneva and neighbouring France, but with limited public transport, some children will not be making it to school.
Turn on your lights and fill the windscreen cleaner: winter is here!
One in four Swiss road deaths occurs at pedestrian crossings: make sure your lights are set correctly and windscreen cleaner is full with dark, wet days here (photo: TCS)
Lugano and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One in four road deaths in Switzerland occurs at a pedestrian crosswalk, a problem the country shares with the rest of Europe. TCS (Touring Club Suissse) in 2008 embarked on a programme with other automobile clubs in Europe to test pedestrian crossings, and the worst one this year turned up in Lugano. The intersection at the Via San Gottardo and the Via Genzana was given a mark of “very inadequate”, reports news agency ats. Its low marks were due to no traffic lights, very poor light during the day and at night and the difficulty seeing pedestrians that drivers have when they turn right have.
TCS, as part of a national Day of Light 25 November, published a set of reminders for drivers that include these points:
- 90 percent of the information we receive as drivers is visual
- fatigue sharply reduces your ability to process visual information quickly
- night driving cuts visibility by 5-10 percent and rain reduces it even further
- visual acuity is reduced as we get older.
Winter weather brings a reminder to refill your car’s windscreen cleaner liquid, making sure it’s the anti-freeze kind for winter.
Ed. note: the Day of Light organizers have a safety quiz contest with only four easy questions, which require only basic French, and the prizes are handy items like a mountain bike, bicycle helmets, Swiss thermos and safety vests. It runs until 11 February 2010.
Swiss snow forecast, road alerts, Anzere traffic change, kids’ competitions this winter
La Loge at Crozet, Jura, 24 November 2010 (photo, Jean Charles and Pauline Cusin)
Update 13:20 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - It’s official: time to pull out those skis and head for the Jura slopes, or tuck up inside and light a fire, because this weekend will be cold and wintry. MeteoSwiss (see GenevaLunch weather pages) is predicting highs of 1 to 2C throughout central and western Switzerland, with sun alternating with snow.
New booklet helps winter sports fans shift to public transport
Leisure time activities account for a hefty part of road use in Switzerland. ATE, Association Transport & Environnement, has just published an excellent guide to using public transport for winter sports, with details for the time it takes, how to best get there, equipment rental and more for each Swiss resort. The guide is an excellent resource and good addition to the information available about winter sports (Fre, Ger, Ita).
Winter roads: reminder from Vaud that conditions can dictate legal speed
If you don’t yet have your winter tires on the car, don’t delay, as snow as low as the plains makes for slippery driving, Canton Vaud’s highway department reminds drivers they are legally obliged to drive at lower speeds when road conditions, such as ice and snow, call for it.
Cantonal road authorities say they replenished their stock of salt this summer, but if the winter is a tough one, supplies in Europe are likely to run short.
Road clearing times, list of Vaud closed roads
Three lanes: now two again, for a month, on the A1 near Morges-Lausanne
Morges, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Prepare for summer traffic jams: the A1 autoroute between Morges Ouest (west) and Lausanne is about to undergo surgery that will last until 25 June. The facelift reduces traffic to two lanes in each direction fom 06:00-20:00 and one lane each way during the night.
The A1 has operated far more smoothly since the start of 2010 when months of roadworks were completed, giving it three lanes in each direction during rush hour. The combination of heavy equipment and a colder than usual winter damaged the surface of the existing lanes, however, and these now need to be removed and the roads re-covered. The highway department notes that even when it appears that there are no workers the lanes are closed for a good reason, as it can take several days for the surface to harden fully.
The new roadworks will add to the headaches of travellers between Morges and Villeneuve, given the heavy roadworks scheduled along the A9 between Lausanne and Villeneuve. Long stretches in each direction have been reduced to a single lane.
A1 Gland-Rolle accident: one seriously injured; Epalinges, Gland and Gingins deaths
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Three people have died and one is in serious condition following four separate accidents in Vaud since Tuesday. A woman in her seventies died following an accident in Gingins Saturday morning. In another accident early Sunday a 20-year-old man was airlifted to the Chuv university hospitals in serious condition after he lost control of his car on the A1 autoroute between Gland and Rolle, heading in the direction of Lausanne.
The Gingins accident occurred when the woman failed to see a vehicle coming from her right.
Road safety tests, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Statistics published by canton Geneva Tuesday 23 March show that road accidents have been falling steadily in the past five years, with improvements in virtually all categories measured (inattention, speed, road conditions, and more).
The figures provide some details behind the averages. The worst day of the week for accidents is Friday and the time of day with the most accidents is between 17:00 and 18:00.
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.
