“We’ve had enough now!”

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Three kilometers to the north. Nine kilometers before the south portal. Traffic jams on the Gotthard are simply part of the equation for motorists at Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost and during the summer holidays.

For the people living between Erstfeld UR and Göschenen UR, motorcades are a nerve-racking everyday life. On such busy days, there is a constant buzz outside their gardens and bedroom windows. As it builds up in front of the north portal, motorists and truck drivers drive off the A2 and block the canton road.

“Unacceptable Conditions”

Now the residents of Uri have had enough: on Wednesday, the cantonal parliament voted in favor of a cantonal initiative that calls for a booking system for Gotthard passages. Unanimous. Uri Central National Councilor Simon Stadler (34) calls this a “sensation”. At second glance, however, this is understandable: “Conditions in the Oberland are no longer sustainable,” he says. “In the past, through traffic was only blocked in Göschenen and Wassen UR, nowadays half the canton is blocked from Erstfeld.”

Uri Secretary of State Heidi Z’graggen (57) also spoke about unsustainable circumstances in the last autumn session: she calculated that the number of hours of traffic jams had increased by 31 percent since 2019. “Sometimes there is no or almost no opportunity for the local population. The situation could become very critical – thank God we have been saved from this so far – if the fire brigade, police, emergency services and rescue services can no longer reach the villages and communities of the Urner Oberland.”

Pentecost hardness test

It’s not that the people of Uri haven’t tried to get the problem under control for a long time. For years, the slip road to the Göschenen motorway has been closed as soon as the traffic jam reaches three kilometers. Traffic is also measured at the motorway exits in Amsteg UR and Erstfeld. Since the beginning of April, further measures have been tested in a pilot, such as blocking the Wassen slip road and a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour on the highway from eight kilometers of traffic jams.

That seems to work a bit. “There was less traffic on the canton road at Easter,” says green district manager Eveline Lüönd (44). “But the real value of the measures will only become clear when the passport is open. In any case, from their point of view, a more consistent shift from freight to rail and less individual traffic is needed.

“Easter was just the harbinger of summer,” says alderman Stadler. “If the pass is not open until Pentecost, tens of thousands of cars will block the villages again.”

«Sign to Bern»

The idea for the reservation system came from the Uri FDP district administrator Ludwig Loretz (59). “It is mainly a sign to Bern that things cannot go on like this,” he says. He hopes that his idea will now at least be investigated by the federal government.

“The reservation system is a first suggestion,” says Central National Councilor Stadler. Perhaps, he refutes critics, other paths such as a dynamic tunnel or change money would also lead to the goal. “But whoever calls now, I say as Uri: come up with another solution. We’ve had enough of it now!”

Source:Blick