A13 motorway (Switzerland)

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A13
Location of the A13 in Switzerland
Route information
Length	195 km (121 mi)
Location
Country	Switzerland
Highway system
Transport in Switzerland Motorways

The A13 is a

.

Construction

The A13 started life as a road which was mainly an expressway, from the foggy beginnings at St. Margrethen through to

Graubünden

section into a full motorway would be difficult.

The route is challenging south of

, between Thusis and Soazza, there is no central structure to separate the two carriageway directions; each lane is about 50 percent larger than on a main highway, and overtaking (using part of the carriageway reserved for the other direction) is allowed where signposted. The expressway finds its way through the Alps by means of the San Bernardino tunnel, which is 6.6 km (4.1 mi) in length. It also passes the Viamala gorge, where nocturnal shows^[1] tell the story of 2000 years of road construction through this obstacle (summer only).

The A13 continues the

).

Autostrasse, passing Splügen

.

Main route:

Speed limit: 120 km/h (75 mph) on all motorway parts; 100 km/h (62 mph) or at times 80 km/h (50 mph) on expressway parts. Speed checks do appear and penalties can be severe.

Tolls: Covered by CHF 40 annual motorway toll sticker.

The A13 starts in

joins the A13.

The highway then heads to

(about 600.0 metres or 1,968.5 feet up).

From Thusis the A13 climbs an altitude difference of some 1000 metres to the 6.6 km (4.1 mi) long San Bernardino Tunnel at around 1,650 metres (5,410 ft).

After the tunnel the road is marked by many galleries and strong avalanche-control curves back down into the Valle Mesolcina, using two long bridges to allow wide turns in this steep valley. At

, merging with A2 at an altitude of 240 m (790 ft).

Between

. In this tunnel, there is one lane for each direction.

Serious accidents

Originally, a largely non-divided section of the expressway from Sargans to the north has long been regarded as a particularly dangerous stretch: time and again, it experienced severe front-end collisions. In the period from 1979 to 2002, 96 people died on the A13, five times more than usual in Switzerland's highways.

On 16 September 2006, a fire broke out in the Viamala Tunnel, after a head-on collision between a tour bus and a car, which killed nine people. Involved in the collision was a second passenger car. At least four other vehicles were affected.

As a major transit route, shifting traffic from the A13 is a major concern. For the future, the introduction of an Alpentransitbörse is being discussed.

This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table. Please consult this guideline for information on how to create one. Please improve this article if you can. (December 2021)

Junctions

A1 (1) St. Margrethen (Junction S18 - planned) (2) Au SG (3) Widnau Rest area Kriessern (4) Kriessern Montlingen (300 m) (5) Oberriet (6) Sennwald (7) Haag (8) Buchs SG Rheintal (9) Sevelen (10)  Trübbach (11) Junction Sarganserland A3 (12) Bad Ragaz Heidiland (13) Maienfeld (14) Landquart (N28) Rest area Zizers (15) Zizers (16) Chur Nord (17) Chur Süd (18) Reichenau Motorway end Autostrasse A13 (19) Bonaduz Plazzas (252 m) Hinterrheinbrücke Bonaduz Isla-Bella (2449 m) Autostrasse A13 Autostrasse A13 (richtungsgetrennt) Isla-Bella (2435 m) (20) Rothenbrunnen (21) Thusis Nord (22) Thusis Süd Autostrasse A13 (richtungsgetrennt) Autostrasse A13 Crapteig (2171 m) Rongellen III (135 m) (23) Viamala Viamala (742 m) Bargias (416 m) Wegerhaus (228 m) (24) Zillis (25) Andeer Bärenburg (998 m) (26) Avers Galerie Rofla Roflabrücke Rest area Rofla Rofla (995 m) Traversabrücke Traversa (375 m) (27) Sufers (28) Splügen (29) Medels (30) Nufenen Cassanawald (1230 m) (31) Hinterrhein (32) San-Bernardino-Pass San Bernardino (road tunnel) (6600 m) (33) San Bernardino Rest area San Bernardino Gei (418 m) Salvaneibrücke Galleria Cianca Presela Landrüfe (213 m) Galleria Seda Brusei (560 m) Galleria Cozz Rest area Mesocco (34) Pian San Giacomo (35) Mesocco Nord Cresta (213 m) Benabbia, Mesocco (150 m) Gorda, Mesocco (130 m) (36) Mesocco Süd (37) Lostallo San Fedele, Roveredo (2381 m) – under construction (2012) (38) Roveredo Campagnola (39) Bellinzona Nord (39)    Junction A2 A2

• Autobahn A13 (Website of the Service des Autoroutes du canton de Fribourg (in French)
• Photo-series: A13 on Autobahnen.ch

46°49′12″N 9°24′21″E / 46.819926°N 9.405866°E / 46.819926; 9.405866