Motorways of Switzerland
Switzerland has a two-class highway system: motorways with separated roads for oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), and expressways often with oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph).
Autobahnen in German, autoroutes in French, autostrade in Italian, autostradas in
Autostrassen in German, semi-autoroutes in French, semiautostrade in Italian, autovias in Romansch are the local names of the national expressways.
Motorways and expressways are restricted to motorized vehicles that can attain a speed of at least 80 km/h (50 mph) (VRV/ORC/ONC Art. 35 1).[1]
For the usage of any motorways or expressways the purchase of a motorway sticker ("vignette") to be put on the car's windshield is mandatory.[2]
Network map
History
A short stretch of autobahn around the Lucerne area in 1955 created Switzerland's first autobahn. For Expo 1964,[clarification needed] an autoroute was built between Lausanne and Geneva. The Bern-Lenzburg autobahn was inaugurated in 1967.
Current density
The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has a total length (as of April 2012) of 1,763.6 kilometres (1,095.9 mi), of the planned 1,893.5 kilometres (1,176.6 mi), and has, by an area of 41,290 km2, also one of the highest
The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has not yet been completed; priority has been given to the most important routes, especially the north-south and the west-east axis.
Swiss autobahns/autoroutes very often have an emergency lane except in tunnels. Some newly built autobahn sections, like the lone section crossing the
Toll requirements
The Swiss autobahn/autoroute system requires the purchase of a vignette (toll sticker) — which costs 40 Swiss francs — for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks.[4] The Swiss vignette is offered only as an annual toll sticker. Trucks also have to pay a toll based on the tonnage and the distance.
The cantons abandoned the right to raise road and bridge tolls to the Confederation, and the only way of funding the road system is partly through the vignette, the motor tax for every registered vehicle and mainly through the federal taxes levied on each liter of gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.
Tolls for the use of particular roads, tunnels or bridges cannot be raised according to the Swiss constitution and so even the use of cost-intensive pieces of infrastructure such as the Gotthard Road Tunnel is financed by the entire system. The only exceptions are the Munt la Schera and Great St Bernard tunnels and the train shuttles carrying road vehicles.
List of Autobahnen/Autoroutes/Autostrade
Note: Portions in italics indicate missing parts or routes under construction or projection.
- A1 St. Margrethen (Austrian border) - St. Gallen - Winterthur - Zürich (North Ring) - Aarau - Olten - Bern - Murten - Avenches - Payerne - Estavayer-le-Lac - Yverdon-les-Bains - Lausanne - Nyon - Geneva - Bardonnex (Frenchborder)
- border)
- A4 Thayngen / Bargen (German border) - Schaffhausen - Winterthur - Zürich (North & West Ring) - Cham - Brunnen - Altdorf
- Yverdon
- A10 Muri bei Bern - Rüfenacht
- San Bernardino - Bellinzona
- A15 Brüttisellen - Uster - (Wetzikon) - Hinwil - Reichenburg ("Zürcher Oberlandautobahn")
- Transjurane")
- A17 Näfels - Niederurnen
- Reinach BL
- A21 Bypass Martigny
- A22 Pratteln - Sissach
- A23 Müllheim - Eschikofen - (Weinfelden - Amriswil) - Arbon - Rorschach ("Bodensee-Thurtalstrasse")
- A24 Mendrisio - Stabio
- A25 Herisau - Gossau SG
- Rheinsfelden ZH - Glattfelden(bypass Glattfelden)
- Zürich Airport - Zürich-North ("Flughafenautobahn")
- ("Forchstrasse")
Military significance
When planning the motorway network, the demands of the
The last example of a "runway" was Highway A1 - section Murten - be Payerne, opened in the 1990s, parallel to the runway of the airbase in Payerne.
The use of aircraft was occasionally tested by the WK-units (FLPL Dept.).[6] The section in Oensingen was used on 16 September 1970 from 12-15 o'clock for a military exercise, which was characteristic of the Cold War. The level of secrecy was accordingly high. All unnecessary notices were therefore to be avoided, but many spectators were present, and the media reported it.
The aviators and airport Regiment 3 with the
Date | Exercise name | Place | Motorway | Truppe | Remark |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 September 1970 | «U STRADA» | Oensingen | N1 | Flpl Abt 9 | Alpnach Air Base : 12 de Havilland Venom |
26 September 1974 | «U STRADA» | Münsingen | N6 | Flpl Abt 12 & 13 | Flugplatz Meiringen air base : Hawker Hunter
|
28 September 1977 | «U NOLA» | Flums | N13 | Flpl Abt 9 | Alpnach Air Base : Hawker Hunter |
1 June 1978 | «U NOSTA» | Alpnach | N8 | Flpl Abt 9 | Alpnach Air Base : Hawker Hunter |
6 May 1980 | «U ABEX» | Aigle-Bex | N9 | Flpl Rgt 1 | Raron, Turtmann and Sion Airport : 36 Hawker Hunter |
24 March 1982 | «U TAUTO» | Münsingen | N6 | Flpl Rgt 2 | F-5 Tiger Interlaken Hawker Hunter
|
15 October 1985 | «U TAUTO» | Flums | N13 | Flpl Abt 8 | F-5 Tiger, Mollis : Hawker Hunter
|
29 September 1988 | «U TUTTI» | Alpnach | N8 | Flpl Abt 9 | F-5 Tiger
|
16 November 1988 | «U NOSTASIO» | Sion | N9 | Flpl Abt 4 | F-5 Tiger
|
14 November 1991 | «U STRADA» | Lodrino | N2 | Flpl Abt 8 | Ambri Airport : Hawker Hunter, Alpnach Air Base : F-5 Tiger II, Mollis : Hawker Hunter |
5 June 2024 | «ALPHA UNO» | Payerne | N1 | Flst 17 | Payerne Air Base: F/A-18 |
Never tested following motorway sections:
- Stans A2, Short for emergency starting of Dassault Mirage III with JATO rockets.
With the end of the Cold War and the restructuring of the Swiss Army objects are continuously released from the inventory of military infrastructure, including various national roads buildings. With the reform of the army in 1995, the concept of highway-airfields was abandoned until recently.
Another discontinued double use of motorways is the
The
An exercise of landings and take-offs called "Alpha Uno" on the Payerne A1 section of the motorway was performed on 5 June 2024.[7]
See also
- Autostrasse
- Road signs in Switzerland
- List of controlled-access highway systems
- Evolution of motorway construction in European nations
References
- ^ "SR/RS 741.11 Verkehrsregelnverordnung vom 13. November 1962 (VRV)" (in German, French, and Italian). Berne, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Council. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
- ^ "Swiss motorway sticker". Berne, Switzerland: chc.ch, A service of the Confederation, cantons and communes, Swiss Confederation. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
- ^ Motorway and tunnels- Retrieved 2012-04-06
- ^ "National road tax and motorway tax (CHF 40.-)". Archived from the original on 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- ISBN 978-3-9524239-0-5).
- Schweizer Luftwaffe
- ^ swissinfo.ch, S. W. I. (2024-06-05). "'Alpha Uno': Swiss fighter jets take off and land on motorway". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
External links
- https://www.autobahnen.ch/ — A website with pictures, forum and routes of Swiss motorways
- https://web.archive.org/web/20141111115818/http://www.lw.admin.ch/internet/luftwaffe/de/home/themen/history/kriegkalt/autobahn.html - Swiss air Force web side about the use of motorways as runways