Motorways are being expanded: Parliament is spending billions in the fight against traffic jams

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On Wednesday, the Council of States supported the National Council’s decision to include an expansion of the A1 on Lake Geneva to six lanes in the federal resolution on the 2023 expansion step for national roads. This between Le Vengeron GE and Nyon VD. That costs about 900 million francs.

However, the Council of States sets a condition that the Federal Council approves the overall project for this project by the end of the year.

The other components of the expansion step include expanding the A1 between Bern-Wankdorf and Schönbühl BE to eight lanes and between Schönbühl and Kirchberg BE to six lanes. In addition, a third tube of the Rosenberg Tunnel on the A1 near St. Gallen and a second tube of the Fäsenstaub Tunnel on the A4 in Schaffhausen are being built.

Otherwise there would be even more traffic jams

The eastern bypass of the A2 in the Basel region must also be sustainably relieved of through traffic with a new Rhine tunnel between Bisfelden BL and Kleinhüningen BS.

For example, road expansion advocates said that only three percent of Switzerland’s roads are highways. Only 50 percent of private motorized traffic took place there. So it is worth investing there – also to protect the secondary road network.

According to forecasts, without long-term expansion, there would be traffic jams or gridlocked traffic for hours every day on almost 170 kilometers of the national road network, the Federal Council said in advance. An expansion of roads and railway lines is necessary, Rösti said in the city council.

It is the turn of the National Council again

Opponents said that in the face of climate change, road expansion should be questioned. Traffic is like gas, said Lisa Mazzone, councilor of Green Geneva: it has the ability to fill the available space. The same happens with traffic when space is made available for it.

A left-green minority in the Council of States requested on Wednesday to abandon the expansion of the highway in the canton of Bern. This purely concerns capacity expansions. But she had no chance.

Because the Council of States formulated a condition for the extension of the A1 in the Lake Geneva area, the bill goes back to the National Council to resolve the differences. When the Federal Council presented the expansion projects in February, several associations threatened with a referendum against the federal decision on the expansion step in 2023.

The Council of States approved a total of three more federal resolutions on national roads on Tuesday. This includes a payment framework for the operation, maintenance and adjustments of these roads in the years 2024 to 2027. The small chamber released 8.8 billion under this title. The National Council approved these three resolutions in May.

All the money comes from the national road and urban transport fund NAF, which registers deposits of between 2.6 and 3.2 billion francs annually. According to federal calculations, the country should have reserves until at least 2027. (SDA)

Source:Blick