Should Switzerland Widen the A1 Motorway?
As a Swiss abroad, I’m aware that the homeland I left in 2000 isn’t much the same as what it is (or was) in 2018 (the last time I was there — the pandemic locked me down in Asia in more recent years…). One of the more recently debated topics in transport policy was if Switzerland should widen the heavily-used A1 motorway to 6 lanes — at least between Zürich and Bern, as well as between Lausanne and Genève. (Right now, the part that is 6 lanes throughout include a part where the A1 and A2 motorways share routes, as well as the part between Zürich and Winterthur-Töss junction.)
Being in China, the local response would be an unconditional YES. China, in fact, has beyond built mega-freeways (and some of them were built for the “smart” future, such as futureproofing one lane on the new Beijing-Xiongan Motorway for autonomous vehicles!). In 1991, the 4-lane Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Motorway entered service at a time when the communist centrally-planned economy was in its last days, soon replaced to visible extents by the market economy. Traffic on that motorway itself did not really pick up until about 15 years later. But when the wave of cars came, the planners leapt in action and built an 8-lane relief motorway just a few miles north of the 4-lane one. (The 4-lane motorway is now itself also being expanded to at least 6 lanes, if not the full 8 outright.)
China can do this because it’s one of the most populous countries. It’s also a case of the Communist government committed to building out infrastructure, and one decree from Peking’s mandarins will do to get land sorted and the shovels moving. In Switzerland, though, eminent domain is very much a thing, and the Federal authorities in Bern will sometimes have difficulties talking to the individual states, or cantons, as to routing and construction in their part of the country. Then there is also a highly vibrant and active civil society, with as many people opposed to the expansion as in favour. The Swiss actively “fight it out”, if you will, at the polls, and a government act to build an 8-lane superhighway is very likely going to be countered by a citizen referendum, forcing people to decide this at the ballot box
The Swiss People’s Party is the biggest party by voter support, but it counts for “just” around a quarter of votes nationwide, a far cry from Beijing’s one-party state. Its most prominent Federal Councillor (equivalent to a key government department minister elsewhere), however, is a man called Albert Rösti, and Rösti himself has tendentially been in favour of expanding the A1. (Of course, the party is equally as vocal on limiting immigration, but if you expand through routes… well, migrants and locals alike will use them!) Interestingly enough, this comes just years after the major “Green wave” in 2019, when the Green Party (and also Green Liberal Party) won big, and the Swiss People’s Party tumbled at the polls, as the nation awoke to the challenge of our times that is climate change.
To some extents, Switzerland has become a victim of its own success, really (although as of late, banking woes and the Gotthard Base Tunnel derailment have made this year somewhat of a Helvetic annus horribilis). It has a largely built-out, well-connected motorway network combined with a legendary, and highly ontime, national rail network. Both means of transport are running at their maximum loads, and solutions are being sought in many ways. On the highways, the debate has always been about widening the motorway to 6 lanes. On the rails, new rolling stock have either made trains go faster on current routes, doubled capacity (with double-decker trains), or new track have been built outright. Relief tram lines close to major conurbations seem also to be part of the transport plan.
But the question remains: should Switzerland widen one of its busiest motorways? In recent years, more and more of this motorway itself has been expanded into 6 lanes: the part known as the Zürich North Ringway (or Diversion), as well as the part shared by motorway routes A1 and A2. The expansion is also happening soon between the part where the A1 shares routes with the A2, as well as the junction with Motorway A5, which branches off to Biel/Bienne (you might in fact have had your Swiss watches made in this city!). In fact, one part of the route near Bern, where the A1 shares routes with Motorway A6, is expected to be expanded into 8 lanes (4 lanes per direction), making it one of Switzerland’s widest motorways!
Switzerland, of course, probably isn’t interested in building Europe’s Katy Freeway (and probably China won’t do something this gigantuanormous either). But the writing is on the wall. Switzerland needs to grow, and both rail and road are running at their limits. One bit of railway Zukunftsmusik, however, might provide a bigger capacity boost than 8-lane superhighways: a part of the rail network around Zürich and Aarau is expected to beget a parallel route that’s 30 km in length — in the form of a relief line, mostly in tunnels, built for speeds up to 250 km/h, and reserved for passenger trains only. China, too, seems to be building incredibly fast railway lines around major conurbations — there is now a third 300–350 km/h High Speed route between Shanghai and Nanjing. Maybe, indeed, there’s more sustainable mileage to be built with the rails than the roads. Whilst I personally am not opposed in the extreme to the motorway widening, I don’t want my kid’s kids to cruise down a 60-lane Motorway A1 into the 22nd century…
