Study: 2nd Gotthard tube leads to traffic collapse

Every morning, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in traffic jams in the conurbations. The situation will worsen in the coming years. A simulation by the ETH spin-off Senozon now shows: The 2nd tube is the last straw. On Zurich's western bypass, there is no way to get past the traffic jam at any time of the day, in the greater Lucerne area, traffic collapses, and Ticino is overrun. And: With a 4-lane 2nd tube, traffic over the Simplon and San Bernardino passes will increase even more than at the Gotthard itself.

With the 2nd tube, the Gotthard would become the shortest four-lane road connection between northern and southern Europe. "There is no doubt that this route would be used more by international transit traffic," says Caroline Beglinger, co-president of the association "No to the 2nd Gotthard tube" and co-managing director of the VCS. "An increase to 2 million trucks would logically have an enormous impact on the traffic situation." The ETH spin-off Senozon has studied exactly this.

Michael Balmer is CEO of Senozon: "With our mobility model, we can perform detailed analyses of a wide variety of traffic scenarios. We integrate static data into our simulations and can thus make precise statements about the effects of changes, for example in infrastructure, on the traffic situation."

In the Zurich region, there is no getting through because of the 2nd tube: the additional trucks are causing peak traffic jams to widen. At no time of day can you get past the traffic jam on the western bypass. Jon Pult, co-president of the association "No to the 2nd Gotthard tube" and president of the Alpine Initiative says: "The money to improve the situation is missing, because 4 billion have been invested in the 2nd tube without any sense."

The study offers a surprise for the San Bernardino and the Simplon. Because there is often no way through to the Gotthard, the number of trucks in the Valais and Graubünden is clearly increasing. They will even more than double because of the 2nd tube!

A 2nd tube has the greatest impact on the greater Lucerne area. The model calculates that every commuter will have to travel longer every day because of transit trucks - on top of the already enormous traffic load. "Every year, transit traffic alone causes costs in the millions because people from Stans, Altdorf, Emmen, etc. are late for work or deliveries are blocked," says Jon Pult. "Yet the solution is obvious: if you shift transit traffic to the rails instead of building pointless road tubes, the whole country benefits."

Doctors warn
Also the Swiss Doctors for Environmental Protection (AEFU) warn against a second tube: If it is built, it will cause a flood of trucks and thus even more respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Scientists of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel confirm the observations of the local doctors. In addition, the 3 billion Swiss francs for a second tunnel at the Gotthard are missing in the agglomerations, where the massive commuter traffic urgently needs to be organized in a more sustainable way, a Geneva lung specialist explains.

In the cantons of Uri and Ticino, many people already suffer from air pollution, especially caused by trucks. Especially children have more asthma and bronchitis, for example.