These highways should benefit from the blessing of billions

It regularly ruins the end of the day for many motorists: the traffic jam on the way home. According to federal traffic projections, about 20 percent of the national road network could become regularly congested by 2040 if no action is taken.

Therefore, the Federal Council plans to spend about CHF 11.6 billion by 2030 on the expansion, maintenance and operation of the national road network.

Projects in urban agglomerations in particular benefit. The pressure to act is greatest there, the Federal Council writes in a press release. Five projects with a realization horizon of 2023 worth about 4 billion Swiss francs are now being built:

• A1 Wankdorf BE – Schönbühl BE
• A1 Schönbühl BE – Kirchberg BE
• A1 Rosenberg tunnel in St. Gallen
• A2 Rhine tunnel in Basel
• A4 Fäsenstaub tunnel in Schaffhausen

Other projects such as the Winterthur ring road or the Zurich western ring road still lack the necessary maturity. This should be taken into account in future expansion steps.

Transport projects in the agglomerations will be supported with an additional CHF 1.6 billion. These include the Glattalbahn, which is continued from Kloten Airport to the industrial area, and the eastern bypass of Suhr in the canton of Aargau. About a third of the federal resources from the Agglo package flow to public transport, car traffic, bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The rest flows to traffic junctions.

Now parliament decides. But maybe in the end people should vote.

Referendum imminent

If the National Council and the Council of States do not stop the expansion of the motorway, the environmental organization Umverkehr, the Swiss Traffic Club (VCS), the network “Verkehrswende now!”, the “Doctors for Environmental Protection” and other organizations want the referendum, such as they say. According to their own statements, the Greens are also considering support.

The Greens are clearly saying no to the Federal Council’s “desire to expand roads,” as stated in a statement. Switzerland has failed to meet its national 2020 climate target. The main reason for this was traffic. While emissions from buildings would fall significantly, for traffic they would remain almost constant.

The organization Umverkehr writes in a statement that the Federal Council is disregarding the climate objectives with the planned motorway expansion. With a billion-dollar promotion of car traffic, the necessary switch to more climate-friendly forms of transport is prevented. The VCS criticized that the planned expansion projects were completely oversized and not suitable to solve the existing traffic problems. Every expansion of the highway leads to an increase in traffic.

The Swiss climate strike movement on Twitter also labeled the Federal Council’s plans “completely unrealistic”. On the other hand, the movement wants to take to the streets on Friday in a week. (brother/SDA)

Source:Blick