Loose wood and petrol in the tunnel caused huge detour and 20km traffic jam at start of holiday
Motorists coming out of the 20km traffic jam were met near Vevey by a very local cloudburst that did little to speed up traffic
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Vaud police are looking for a driver who lost a pallet of wood Wednesday afternoon on the A9 autoroute. The wood slid off the unknown vehicle about 100 metres into the Flonzalley tunnel after Lausanne, heading in the direction of Vevey. The wood scattered and was run over by eight vehicles, hitting the gas tank of one of them. Several other vehicles that either hit or tried to avoid the wood were spun off the road.
Fortunately, say police, there were no victims, but the damage to property is considerable.
The petrol that spilled from the damaged tank spread along several hundred metres in the tunnel. Police quickly closed off the area for 25 minutes and sent some of the traffic on a long detour towards Yverdon and Bern before it headed back in the direction of Valais.
One lane was opened later, but with traffic was predictably heavy at the start of the four-day Ascension holiday weekend, a traffic jam some 20km long bogged down traffic as far back as the Ste Croix junction at Crissier. Traffic moved at a crawl until well after 18:00, when both lanes were opened, just as very local showers hit the area.
The accident required six police teams, fire trucks, special highway department units and a high-pressure cleaning machine.
Police are asking anyone with information about the driver and the vehicle that was carrying the wood to contact them at +41 21 644 4444 or to contact the nearest police station.
Other stretches of Swiss autoroute are studying the Morges-Lausanne solution of adding 2 lanes during rush hour
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Projects such as the third rail line between Vaud and Geneva, considered urgent in the region but far down the long 20-year list of Swiss transport projects, will now be able, in exceptional cases, to get advance funding. The lower house of the Swiss parliament Tuesday joined the upper house in voting to extend CHF850 million in credit to the transport infrastructure fund, to avoid a cash flow crunch as projects become urgent ahead of their scheduled funding. The third rail line is one such exceptional case, with population and workforce growth in the region outstripping planning figures.
The fund was created in 2008 to finance special projects designed to reduce road traffic congestion in cities, larger urban areas and on the autoroutes.
Parliament also voted to spend CHF1.51 billion on 26 projects to improve transport in urban areas. Some CHF1.51 of the money goes to the most urgent projects to reduce traffic jams on autoroutes.
A mini-economy, with roadside merchants supplying food and drink, has appeared on the Jining-Beijing highway in China, part of the Tibet to Beijing expressway, where a 100-km tailback is now in its ninth day, making it a candidate for the world’s worst traffic jam. The slowdown is the result of road works and a traffic spike caused by heavy trucks on this main goods route into the city, which is under repair due to the damage caused by constant heavy goods traffic. The highway operated at a crawl during July, as well, and according to China’s government-owned Global Times, some motorists have while away the hours by playing cards.
Links to other sites: AFP/Vancouver Sun, Global Times, China
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute, already slowed considerably by major summer roadworks, was badly jammed Monday 19 July in the early afternoon by an accident involving a military convoy between Yverdon and Lausanne, in the direction of Lausanne.
A military truck with trailer veered to the right and off the road, flipping over and injuring three of the four soldiers, near the Bavois truck stop. A Neuchatel car hit the trailer, but its occupant was uninjured.
The stretch of road where the accident occurred is open but hilly. Police have not yet determined the cause of the accident.
A9 early morning death in Valais, A9 later in Vaud
The truck driver from the early morning A9 accident was taken to Sion hospital
Update 15 June Sion / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One person died and another was injured shortly after 04:00 Monday morning when a car and a truck collided on the A9 autoroute near the town of Vernayaz. The truck was heading from St Maurice towards Martigny when the collision occurred, for unknown reasons, and the driver of the car was thrown from his vehicle and killed immediately. The truck driver was injured and was flown to the Sion hospital.
The car caught fire and was totally destroyed. Police have not yet identified the dead man and are seeking anyone who can provide information about the accident. In particular, they are trying to determine if the car was stopped on the shoulder of the road and if so, why. Tel: +41 27 326 5656
The driver of the car has not yet been identified, say Valais police
The A9 was closed in the direction of St Maurice to Sion for part of the morning, with enormous tailbacks once it opened.
Later in the day, on the canton Vaud stretch of the A9 between Aigle and St Triphon, a driver lost control of his car, heading in the direction of St Triphon, at 18:00, for reasons not yet clear. The car hit the central divider, then flipped over several times. The driver was thrown from the car and was unconscious when emergency teams arrived. He died at the scene of the accident.
The accidents bring to four the number of deaths on Valais and Vaud autoroutes in just three days. A couple from Ontario, Canada died Saturday 12 June when their tour bus overturned in the Goms Valley. Another 28 persons were injured in the accident.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - 20 Minutes earlier reported an accident involving several cars near the Perly exit on the contournement (bypass) stretch of the autoroute in Geneva, not far from the airport. One lane was closed and traffic badly congested for two hours, but police say traffic is now back to normal in the area.
Geneva to Lausanne traffic slowed significantly Wednesday afternoon, evening
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The A1 autoroute from Geneva to Lausanne came close to a standstill late Wednesday afternoon thanks to urgent repairs on the Pont de l’Asse bridge, before Nyon. The joints on the bridge were repaired urgently some days ago, and the temporary measure was expected to last until a more permanent solution, scheduled for the end of January. The temporary patch did not hold, however, and the Tribune de Geneve quotes a spokesperson for the federal roads office as saying they will use fast-drying glue and a plate to cover the problem area.
Roadworks will last 40 days on A1
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A red car that ran a light near Geneva’s Cornavin train station Wednesday at 20h30 injured a scooter driver and caused a major snarl in traffic in the area. The scooter driver and a motorcyclist both hit the car, but the motorcyclist was uninjured. Buses were rerouted and formed a long line along the Rue de Lyon, reports the Tribune de Geneve. Trams were able to continue along their usual routes.
Update 11:10 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A Lausanne city bus caught fire at 09:30 Friday morning near the entrance to the autoroute (Bourdonette) in Lausanne, and is causing traffic jams as fire fighters worked to put out the blaze, reports 20 Minutes (Fre). Police are not yet releasing information about the cause of the fire and 24 Heures (Fre) reports that the driver led off the one passenger on the parked bus.
