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5.3 billion francs for highway expansion: Parliament’s latest decision sparks strong opposition from environmentalists. The Swiss Transport Club (VCS) and the Umverkehr association – with the support of the Greens – have called for a referendum against the expansion.
There is little doubt that opponents of the expansion will get the necessary 50,000 signatures. This means that the population gets the last word.
More roads, even more traffic?
Opponents consider the expansion pointless, too expensive and harmful to the climate. In addition to the Greens and SP members, the Green Liberals in the House of Representatives also voted against. You cannot solve the traffic jam problem by building more and more roads, says Franziska Ryser (31), state councilor of St. Gallen and co-chairman of Umverkehr. Citing studies, she argues that expanding capacity leads to even more traffic and congestion – a vicious circle.
However, expansion cannot happen fast enough for the citizens. While Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59) calls for savings, Transport Minister Albert Rösti (56) practically invited parliament at the beginning of this year to spend more money on the highways. It then added two extensions at Lake Geneva – costing 911 million francs – to its shopping list.
Rösti encourages highway expansion
The VCS speaks of a ‘construction mania’. Rösti, on the other hand, who was not so long ago president of Auto Switzerland, wants to go much further. Further expansion projects are in the pipeline. Rösti supports the SVP’s demand for a general expansion of the A1 between Geneva and Lausanne, as well as Zurich and Bern, to six lanes. That is exactly what the Minister of Transport plans to do anyway. He argues with figures: the economy loses three billion francs every year because employees are stuck in traffic jams.
Then they should just take the train, says the left – in the parliamentary debate they demanded that the money be used for expanding the railway instead of expanding the road network. With the referendum against the next highway expansion, they want to give Rösti a chance.
Source:Blick
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