Traffic density is the first cause of traffic jams; accidents are the second

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss “national” highways, including the autoroute system, grew busier in 2012, but for a change the rate of growth in the number of cars on the roads slowed down. Some 25.96 billion kilometres were driven in 2012, a 0.3 percent increase over 2011. Traffic grew on average 2.7 percent a year from 2009 to 2011, and since 1990 traffic has increased 109 percent.

The slower increase resulted in the number of hours spent in traffic jams growing more slowly as well.

If you’ve traveled regularly for 10 years or more on the autoroutes around Switzerland’s urban centres, for example on the A1 between Geneva and Lausanne, you’ll have noticed the steady buildup.

Bern has a two-step plan to reduce jams in the worst-hit spots. The first has already freed monies to enlarge to six lanes the stretches between Härkingen-Wiggertal and Blegi-Rütihof, around the north of Zurich and around Crissier in canton Vaud

The second stage will involve widening the stretches in Geneva/Vaud between Meyrin/Vernier-Le Vengeron, as well as Luterbach-Härkingen and Andelfingen-Winterthour.

There is some small consolation for drivers when they turn off the national roads: traffic on communal and cantonal roads has fallen by 10 percent in the past 23 years.

The solution on the Morges-Lausanne stretch, using the emergency lane during rush hour, has been successful in cutting traffic jams, and the same solution will now be used elsewhere

The other bit of good news is that 2012 saw a 31 percent drop in the number of hours of traffic jams caused by roadworks, thanks largely to better planning and more information available to motorists to help them plan.

But traffic jams remain a headache for drivers and for the Federal Highway Office. Drivers were stuck in jams for 19,921 hours in 2012, a 4 percent increase over the previous year. It could have been worse, given that in 2011 the increase was 34 percent and in 2010 it was 20 percent.

The worst spots last year were the built-up areas around Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne and Basel as well as Härkingen-Wiggertal, where the A1 and the A2 come together.

Traffic congestion is the main cause (75 percent, with 16, 223 hours) of traffic jams, where cars come to a halt, and accidents are the second cause.