Traffic jam on the A9 last Wednesday evening
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Smart highways could be around the corner in Switzerland, with EPFL, the federal polytechnic institute in Lausanne, undertaking a study to improve traffic flows by using stoplights to enter highways, with funding from the Swiss Federal Roads Office.
There may be a growing sense of urgency to resolve highway traffic jams; Lausanne recently argued for more money more rapidly for trains in order to smooth out timetables for public transport and thus reduce city traffic jams. And EPFL says some recent studies show that from 2009 to 2010, an only 2.6 percent increase in highway traffic raised the number of reported traffic jams by a third.
The team has already concluded that a more effective solution would be monitoring and regulating traffic flows over a longer stretch to reduce traffic jams. The goal is to develop intelligent traffic management systems to optimize traffic flow on highways in real-time, by enforcing variable speed limits on highways and setting up traffic lights on the highway’s access ramps, EPFL says in a statement.
Lights can cut delays by 10-20%
“Experience from around the world has shown that ramp metering can reduce delays on highways by between 10 to 20 percent,” says Nikolas Geroliminis, head of the Luts (laboratory of urban transport systems) programme at the university. “Reduced congestion leads to less stop-and-go traffic, less gasoline consumption and CO2 emissions.”
Traffic lights to enter highways date back decades and are used in many parts of the world, but Switzerland’s situation has two special features. Entry ramps are very short in many areas and traffic jams in urban areas, with narrow streets, can quickly spread back from the autoroute entrance to city centres.
System-wide strategy needed
“What we need is a strategy that can control the influx of cars on all of the highway access points simultaneously to adapt to the queue on the road,” says Geroliminis. he explains. Queues on access ramps and highway congestion can be reduced by controlling speed limits and highway access across a large portion of the network, he argues.
His research group is developing an algorithm to control the traffic lights and speed limits. “Using data obtained from traffic monitoring devices mounted along the highway and on access roads, the algorithm would act as a virtual traffic warden, smoothing traffic by regulating the speed limit and restricting traffic flow onto the highway in real-time”, the EPFL statement says.
The team has selected two frequently congested highway segments they say, one of them in Vaud, to provide traffic data and serve as a test sites for their models.
The data obtained could be used to test the fesability of their method using computer simulations. The next question is whether the roads office would be willing to fund a full-scale field implementation of their strategy, but backing could well come from the regional development programme and the city of Lausanne, which are looking to improve traffic flows in the next decade.
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.
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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.
View from the train, Bern to Lausanne, April 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The long Ascension weekend, 13-16 May, where many people take Thursday and Friday off work, starts this evening. Expect heavy traffic and damp weather at the outset, but the rest of the week should show some improvement in western and southern Switzerland, but do carry your umbrellas.
Traffic forecast from the Swiss federal highway department, Ascension weekend
Update 17:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two tunnels that link the city with the autoroute and several traffic lights in Geneva were closed most of Friday morning due to a power failure caused by a fire in Vernier, according to Geneva police, who sent out teams to direct traffic at intersections. Lights were out at several intersections and autoroute tunnels were closed temporarily. The Tribune de Geneve reports that 25,000 homes were without electricity but by noon it was functioning again for 95 percent of them.
Affected areas include Avanchets, Cointrin, Petit Saconnex, Servette, Vernier, Onex, Bernex.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland is one of the main north-south passages during Europe’s spring school holidays and the federal government has issued its annual list of what places to avoid when if you want to skip the traffic jams. Main areas Saturday, from 09:00-18:00, are the autoroute belts around Lausanne, Bern and Zurich, and especially the Lausanne-Glion tunnel, Châtel-Saint-Denis and La Veyre near Vevey, and the Villars-Sainte-Croix interchange near Morges and Lausanne. Wednesday 31 March starting at noon and Thursday and Friday all day: expect heavy traffic.
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
Morges on the A1 autoroute
Valais traffic jam: driver watches a movie on his dashboard
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - If you’re driving on the A1 Geneva-Lausanne or the A9 Lausane-Valais this weekend, build in extra time, no matter where you’re going, if the trip involves the autoroute.
For the past few days roadworks have been creating tailbacks around Morges (mostly small), between Vevey and Villeneuve (mostly acute on the lake side) and around St Maurice (moderate to bad) on the Italian Alps side.
Swiss roads: nice, when you're moving
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The number of hours the Swiss spent in traffic jams fell to 10 048 in 2008, the lowest in seven years, the federal roads department says, and this despite a 1 percent increase in traffic on Swiss roads last year. The increase was smaller than in recent years, however, which has averaged 2.4 percent. While the reasons for the drop are not clear, the rhythm was normal at the start of the year but fell in the second half of the year, suggesting a link to the weaker economy, says the government. Zurich was the black spot, with 2,794 hours of jams, compared to 697 hours around Lausanne and 228 near Geneva.
Drivers increased the hours spent in jams due to heavier traffic, but the number of hours due to roadworks was down sharply, by some 40 percent.
Chexbres, Vaud, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) - The A9 autoroute, down to two lanes between Belmont and Chexbres for the past two days, will have four lanes starting Friday night, cantonal road authorities say.
