Skip to main content

Switzerland to improve traffic flow by 2020

The Swiss federal office for roads, Astra, has announced plans to implement a series of measures by 2020 to ease traffic flow on roads and to prevent congestion Plans include limited use of the emergency lanes for some traffic in peak hours, bans on overtaking for trucks, and a temporary reduction to the maximum speed on heavily congested roads, as well as a targeted management at traffic lights. The measures will be implemented according to the degree of congestion on the national roads. There will also
August 21, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The Swiss federal office for roads, Astra, has announced plans to implement a series of measures by 2020 to ease traffic flow on roads and to prevent congestion

Plans include limited use of the emergency lanes for some traffic in peak hours, bans on overtaking for trucks, and a temporary reduction to the maximum speed on heavily congested roads, as well as a targeted management at traffic lights. The measures will be implemented according to the degree of congestion on the national roads. There will also be an improved disclosure of traffic news via the radio and information boards.

Astra has not disclosed the costs of the proposed measures, but has revealed that development on the emergency lane to accommodate for more traffic amounts to US$5.41 million per kilometre.

Related Content

  • euroFOT study demonstrates benefits of driver assistance systems
    June 26, 2012
    Today, the euroFOT consortium published the findings of a four-year study focused on the impact of driver assistance systems in the Europe. The €22 million (US$27.5 million) European Field Operational Test (euroFOT) project which began in June 2008 and involved 28 companies and organisations, was led by Aria Etemad from Ford’s European Research Centre in Aachen, Germany. The study looked at existing technologies and their potential to both enhance safety and reduce environmental impact. euroFOT also reveale
  • Traffic to flow freely over world’s widest bridge
    November 13, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on a new Egis project in Canada, providing open road tolling operations for the widest bridge in the world. A bridge can present a bottleneck in a system of roads or it can support the smooth and unobstructed flow of traffic. Much depends on the bridge design, surrounding infrastructure and tolling system. By adding lanes and deploying open road tolling (ORT), the new Port Mann Bridge located in the metropolitan Vancouver area in British Columbia, will alleviate congestion at one of the
  • Countering congestion’s cost
    May 6, 2015
    A new report on the economic costs of traffic congestion predicts the problem will worsen significantly in future. Jon Masters reviews the figures and some suggested solutions. New figures on the rising economic and environmental costs of congestion have been published by the US traffic data specialist Inrix and the UK’s Centre for Economics & Business Research (Cebr). Their report finds the problem much bigger than previously thought.
  • ITS technology reduces congestion, improves workzone safety
    July 17, 2012
    As the road-building season gets under way in the US, the Federal Highway Administration has just published a White Paper which deals with the use of ITS technology in work zones. On 30 April 2009, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a White Paper which was prepared by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) to inform public agencies about the use of ITS to manage construction work zones. This is a particularly relevant topic given the large number of construction projects that are ex