Machu Picchu in 2009 (photo ©2009 Claude Vedovini)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland and the United Nations Development Programme will work with Peru to improve weather monitoring around the ancient Incan site of Machu Picchu, following a disastrous series of 40 mudslides due to heavy rains. The rains continue and the Cuzco department, where the site is located, was declared a disaster area Monday 1 February, by the regional president, Hugo Gonzales.
An estimated 25,000 people have been left homeless and another 37,000 have lost at least part of their property in the past two weeks. Some 4,000 tourists were airlifted out of the area last week, and Machu Picchu itself will be closed for at least two months while broken rail and road links are repaired.
Update 21:20 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The proverbial sweet tooth could soon be replaced by sweet wheels in Switzerland, the kind that roll along sugar-covered highways. Authorities in canton Bern have confirmed that they have been using a liquid sugar-based product instead of salt on the A6 autoroute between Rubigen and Spiez, in a two-year test programme that is going well, canton Bern roads supervisor Martin Roesti told GenevaLunch.
The product being used is made by a British company, Safecote, and is manufactured in Italy. Parts of the US, Canada, Norway and Iceland use the liquid sugar on their roads. Switzerland is testing it, says Roesti, because at lower temperatures it is more effective than salt chloride. It is also less aggressive and doesn’t lead to potholes the way salt does.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – France’s autoroute companies will, for the first time in recent years, coordinate the announcement of changes in toll booth charges that will go into effect in February. The new rates for motorway driving in France will be announced 27 January. In early 2009 drivers of light vehicles saw their rates increase by 3 percent, while they went down 13 percent for trucks. This year rates are expected to rise in order to finance major roadworks, according to an official cited by newspaper Le Figaro.
In related news: Swiss and French drivers who have ignored parking fees when they crossed the border could find it is harder to duck paying, with the two countries’ agreement to help each other in this area going into effect this month.
Britain continues to suffer travel woes linked to cold, snowy, icy weather, with flights cancelled on the busiest travel day of the year, 23 December, trains suspended and icy road warnings out for much of the country, reports The Times, UK. The national weather service is forecasting improvements starting Christmas Day, 25 December. Meanwhile, Liverpool airport was forced to close, a Ryanair plane skidded off a runway but caused no injuries, and a record 116,000 motorists were helped by the Automobile Association.
Yverdon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The driver of a Suzuki Duro quad was hit by a military truck at a roundabout on the Mathod to Montagny road, near Yverdon early 11 August. The quad driver was taken to the Chuv university hospital in Lausanne where he was reported to be out of danger. Two people died in quad accidents in Vaud in 2008. Quads are street legal, but built for off-road use. In Switzerland there are very few places where quad owners can legally ride off-road.
Related: 24 Heures
A bus trying to overtake on the road from Harare to Masvingo in Zimbabwe, 88 km south of the capital, overturned after a head-on collision, killing 33 people. The country’s roads are in very poor condition after years of neglect and traffic controls are rare.
Russia’s record as Europe’s worst country for road accidents, with 10,000 deaths a year looks set to continue with 300 people dying in just three days at the end of July. The government blames bad roads, poor or little training and an attitude of many drivers who “think they can break the law and get away with it” the BBC reports Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev saying. Moscow Times
Val d'anniviers, Valais, Switzerland (look for the cat's shadow)
Saint Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Saturday 1 August is Switzerland’s national holiday, a time when the Swiss like to return to their families’ hometowns, and with fine weather forecast, expect trains, planes and roads to be busy starting Friday, as people take long weekends off work.
Tips for the Swiss holiday, road alerts, last-minute travel plans
Summer travel crashes have taken the lives of several people:
- Eight people died, including four children, when a minivan headed the wrong way on the northbound lane of the Taconic State Highway near Pleasantville, New York in the US, just north of New York City, Sunday 26 July. CNN
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is calling for stricter road controls after an oil tanker veered into traffic Friday 24 July bursting into flames as it crashed into a bus, leaving 21 people dead, in the latest in a string of deadly accidents that killed 29 people last week alone. Moscow Times
St Gotthard, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The St Gotthard tunnel had a 10km traffic jam most of the day Friday and it is likely to be worse Saturday 18 July, say authorities. The expected heavy holiday traffic heading south was compounded by bad weather, which appears to have led many drivers to take the tunnel instead of the mountain pass. Updates from truckinfo
hot, hot, hot (image, celestial pilgrim, reproduced with permission)
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Pull out the sun cream nd sunglasses, but take along an umbrella when you head out this weekend: temperatures of 17-27C are expected around Lake Geneva, with 15-30C in canton Valais and the Alps.
If you love to know where we’re all headed, at least on Swiss roads, the Swiss roads department autoroute pages outline all repairs, renovations and new construction on the national system, currently 93.3% completed. It has, for example, details of the Morges-Ecublens project to use the emergency lane, with work starting in May 2009.
Etoy, Vaud: snowy fields, orchards and A1 autoroute
Lake Geneva region (GenevaLunch) – It was hard to avoid the weather 17 February in the region: either you were out in it or everyone mentioned it, or both.
The media covered it: Le Temps, Tribune de Geneve, TSR, 20 Heures.
Snow, accidents, and slippery roads until daytime Wednesday 18 February, when the sun is expected to shine, with temperatures just above 0C: that sums it up.
Which came first, the skid marks or the sign?
Ed. note, French lesson: if you’ve read the articles in our links you’ll have seen the term tôles froissées several times. It does not mean fried rooftops or cold tolls. Translation: Minor accidents or fender benders.
Swiss Alpine areas (GenevaLunch) – Heavy snow, up to a metre in 24 hours in the San Bernardino area, is disrupting traffic in parts of Switzerland Saturday morning. The A13 autoroute and cantonal road in the San Bernardino area have been closed due to the danger of avalanches. The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research are warning that the danger is now high (level 4) in areas on the southern flank of the Alps, notably from the Matterhorn to the Goms and around the St Gotthard, posing danger to some roads (detailed report, in English).
Fechy, Vaud: snow on the plains
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eastern and central Switzerland had overnight snowfalls of at least 10 cm down to the plain, causing accidents and slowing down traffic. In the Lake Geneva region, a truck spun out of control on the A1 autoroute near the Belmont accident, 20 Minutes reports.
Snow is accumulating in many areas, especially above 500 metres
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roadworks around Versoix on the A1 autoroute (direction: towards Geneva) ended by mid-morning, but traffic has been slowed in both directons by accidents.
