Does Switzerland need bigger motorways?

On November 24, the Swiss will vote on a federal plan to widen six stretches of motorway. SWI swissinfo.ch journalist Alexandra Andrist explains what's at stake in the vote. Traffic jams hit a new record last year in Switzerland. According to the Federal Roads Office, motorists were stuck on Swiss roads for more than 48,800 hours. To combat the problem, the Swiss federal government and Parliament want to invest CHF5.3 billion ($6.14 billion) in widening the A1 motorway between Bern and Zurich and between Lausanne and Geneva. The government points out that the motorways were built in the 1950s and 1960s, when the small Alpine country had a population of six million. Today, the population has increased by three million, and traffic is increasing accordingly. An "ecological aberration" for the no camp An alliance of environmental organisations set up the “Stop motorway construction madness” alliance and organised a referendum against expansion. They argue that public authorities ...