A2 motorway (Switzerland)

Template: Infobox trunk road / Maintenance / CH -A

Canton:

  • Canton of Basel-Stadt Basel-Stadt
  • Canton of Basel -Landschaft Basel -Landschaft
  • Canton of Solothurn Solothurn
  • Canton of Aargau Aargau
  • Canton of Lucerne Lucerne
  • Canton of Nidwalden
  • Canton of Uri
  • Canton of Ticino Ticino
  • In construction
  • In planning

The Highway 2, also called Gotthard route ( largely congruent with the national road 2) is one of two main traffic routes through Switzerland and operates from Basel via Lucerne, Altdorf and the Gotthard to Lugano and Chiasso. In addition to the Austrian Brenner motorway and the French Mont Blanc highway it is one of the most important north -south transport routes in Europe and is one of Switzerland's busiest highways.

Situation

Coming from Basel, where there is a left exit in the opposite direction, the A2 crosses the foothills of the Jura Mountains and crosses after the Ballon tunnel the level of the Central Plateau. In the Lucerne -Stans it goes through numerous tunnels which were built partly to traverse the hill terminal moraine of glacial glacier, but were partially created in the surface mining for the purposes of protection against noise. The Sonnenberg Tunnel between Lucerne and Kriens takes on a special position: it was also built as a civil defense shelter for 20,000 residents of the city of Lucerne and was up to his final reduction in 2006, the largest facility of its kind in Europe. In the foothills of the Alps about Stan and Beckenried have a nice view over Lake Lucerne opened, where the highway on the longest viaduct of Switzerland runs. In a huge arc it goes through the Seelisbergtunnel further south. Along the Lake of Uri and the Reuss level leads to Amsteg where the climb begins to the Gotthard tunnel, which meant the end already for some underpowered or poorly maintained vehicle. If one has the third- longest road tunnel in the world (after the Lærdalstunnelen in Norway and the Zhongnanshan tunnel in China) behind, changes not only the language, but also often the weather because of the Gotthard is regarded as a weather divide.

The western slope along the route descends through the upper Leventina, either through tunnels or over bridges. The highest is in Giornico where the A2 crosses the valley. After Biasca A2 runs in the flat valley floor and the provincial capital of the canton of Ticino, Bellinzona. The valley now opens more and more and before Locarno ride east, overlooking the Lake Maggiore, the slope of Monte Ceneri up. After Ceneritunnel you finally reach Lugano and travels through the picturesque causeway divides the lake of Lugano in half, along the Mediterranean shore, and finally through some tunnels to Chiasso, where the highway leaves Switzerland.

Traffic

The A2 is expanded to almost its entire length as a multi-lane highway, only the portion of Göschenen -Airolo ( Gotthard Road Tunnel ) is a non-directional separated highway, which is why in heavy traffic, especially at Easter or during the summer holidays, often kilometers long queues at the form portals. With traffic lights there can be dosed to prevent congestion in the tunnel inside the traffic. The heavy traffic is admitted only dribs and drabs.

Other bottlenecks are the Basel area, where A2 is shared with the A3 and the section between the branches Härkingen and Wiggertal where A1 is shared. The potential due to the land transport agreement with the European Union since 2001, use of heavier vehicles (40 tons instead of 28 tons previously ) charged the partially fragile artery in addition.

Important buildings

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