Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The Geneva-Lausanne stretch of the A1 autoroute was built in 1964 and in its 44 years traffic has multiplied fivefold. Le Temps takes a close look at the options for dealing with the highway’s increasing congestion, with an interivew with Erwin Egger, who oversees the Western Switzerland region for the autoroute. The road was built for a national exposition and was planned for 10-15,000 vehicles but today 60,000 vehicles, on average, pass by Bursins, Vaud, every day. The number reaches 90,000 between Morges and Lausanne, reports Le Temps, and 70,000 daily between Nyon and Geneva.

The Lake Geneva region has the highest rate of travel by car, motorbike and scooter in the country, nearly 50% of all travel compared to 40% for Zurich. A small consolation: Zurich remains the king of traffic jams, however, with people spending nearly four times as many hours as Genevans and Lausannois stuck in traffic in 2007.

Ed. note: the government assures us we won’t notice the difference, but the Swiss confederation took over ownership from the cantons of the national highway system, notably the autoroutes, 1 January. The cantons will long remain heavily involved in their maintenance, however.