Whether you are stuck in gridlock on the way to work or cursing other drivers for passing through the Gotthard at the same time as you, traffic is an increasing problem in Switzerland. Now, a new study from the Federal Office of Spatial Development (ARE) has revealed exactly why the country’s roads a so blocked up.

Traffic jams in Switzerland reach record high

According to the latest data from the Federal Roads Office (Astra), drivers in Switzerland have never faced as many traffic jams as they do today. 2023 saw 48.807 hours of traffic jams on the country's roads, a 22,4 percent increase compared to 2022. Despite only making up 3 percent of the total road network, 45 percent of all disruptions were reported on Swiss motorways. 

Roads around Basel, Lucerne, Lugano, Lake Geneva, Zurich and the Gotthard Road Tunnel were the most congested. Though road accidents and construction work had their parts to play in delays, the vast majority of jams (42.318 hours) were caused by too many vehicles on the road.

Less than half of vehicles on Swiss roads are commuting 

According to the ARE, tourism and leisure traffic are responsible for more than half the cars and trucks on the roads in Switzerland. Just 47 percent of cars on the road are commuters.

27 percent of journeys were classified as “regular leisure traffic” - any day trips that are unrelated to work - while a quarter was attributed to families and individuals travelling by car to go on holiday. This traffic is near-evenly split between drivers from Switzerland and overseas.

Switzerland begins to resist motorway expansion

The findings come at a time when Switzerland’s transport policies are in flux. In November, voters rejected a plan to expand the motorway network, the first time a proposal to construct new roads has fallen foul of the ballot box. At the same time ARE deputy director Ulrich Seewer admitted to SRF that the impact tourism has on traffic jams had been underestimated, adding that the number of travellers heading to the alpine nation by car is only expected to increase in the future.

Faced with these factors, many lawmakers only see one way to counter traffic jams: to expand public transport and the railways. Speaking to SRF, Social Democratic National Councillor David Roth said that with motorway expansion off the table, "we simply will not be able to handle the massive traffic that tourism triggers on the road."

Expanding the railways seen as the main way to reduce traffic

For Seewer, getting more international tourists on the railways is the way forward. Data from the Federal Council suggests that 74 percent of tourist trips in Switzerland are taken by car.

To this end, he called for Swiss cantons to provide visitors with cheap or free public transport tickets to coax them away from driving. With many European drivers using the Gotthard Road Tunnel and San Bernadino to pass between northern and southern Europe, he also called for more direct trains connecting cities in Germany, France and beyond with those in Italy.

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