A16 motorway (Switzerland)

Template: Infobox trunk road / Maintenance / CH -A

Canton:

• Canton of Jura Jura
• Canton of Bern Berne

• In construction
• In planning

The Swiss highway 16 is an 84 km long highway that traversed the Jura in the area of ​​cantons Jura and Bern and therefore also called Transjurane. It is congruent with the National Highway 16 and to its expected completion in 2016Vorlage: / join Future In two years, the French motorway network to the other Swiss national road network. The construction standard provides for both four-lane ( highway) as well as two-lane sections ( highway ), but these are built through crossing-free. At present ( 2012) are about 59 km ( 69%) of track in operation, other sections are under construction.

Course

The A16 starts at Boncourt in Ajoie on the border between Switzerland and France. Then she runs to the south of the Tabular Jura plateau Ajoie to Porrentruy, where it turns to the east. With two long tunnels under it crosses the northern Jura chains at Saint- Ursanne and occurs at Glovelier in the valley of the Dels Berger basin. After the bypass Delémont the A16 turns south again, now follows the River Birs via Moutier and Court to Tavannes. With a tunnel pass the Pierre Pertuis runs beneath it, then the A16 used the valley of the Suze ( Suze German ) and reaches east of Biel / Bienne, the level in the Swiss Plateau, where it is connected with a large roundabout with the A5.

Status of construction

The following sections are in operation:

• Biel / Bienne ( Bözingenfeld ) - Love Resse: Applies from driveway Biel -Nord ( Taubenlochschlucht ) to La Heutte officially known as the National Road, third class, because the section can be also used by bicycles and tractors. In every direction are almost continuously (except for certain out privileges ) two lanes available. The carriageways running in the area separately, the one on the west, the other on the eastern side of the valley, the latter being widely used, the route of the former main road. Section of La Heutte - Tavannes with motorway standard, opened in 1997. From Tavannes two lanes; The line was opened on November 29, 2012.
• Court to Choindez: open tunnel under the Graitery on November 5, 2013, bypass of Moutier ( with motorway standard ) in November 2011, tunnel under the Mont Raimeux and over the cantonal border BE / JU as early as 2007 (both tunnel per lane per direction).
• Courrendlin ( Delémont Est) - Porrentruy: Narrow highway with emergency lay-bys, but without hard shoulder mounted, the tunnel of Mont Terri and Russelin have one lane in each direction. The opening of the line was in 1998 that bypasses Delémont and Porrentruy (each with motorway standard ) in 2005.

The following sections are under construction:

• Porrentruy - Ouest - Boncourt: First grubbing and construction work in progress. From this section, only one carriageway is initially created, which is scheduled to open throughout 2013. After an expansion is planned on four tracks.
• Love Resse - Court: With a 4.5 km long section of the motorway standard configured; is expected to open in 2015.
• Choindez - Delémont -Est (tunnel ): Two-lane section, preparations for construction in the fall of 2009 in progress ( preparations for providing the tunnel boring machine in Courrendlin ); Expected opening is 2016 instead (originally planned for 2012).

Because of the current financial shortage at the federal, the opening data can move at most backwards. The connection of the A16 in France to the A36 ( Mulhouse - Dijon ), between Montbéliard and Belfort was completed in 2010.

Costs

In its course, but the A16 has numerous engineering structures, predominantly tunnel some bridges. Therefore, the A16 is one of the most expensive road projects in Switzerland. For the whole route a cost of 6.3 billion Swiss francs is estimated.

Tunnel

Because of the difficult terrain in the area of the Jura Mountains, the construction of many tunnels is necessary, which pass under the various Jura chains. The main tunnel (from north to south) with a length of more than 1 km are:

• Tunnel de Bure ( 3027 m)
• Tunnel du Banne ( 1086 m, bypass Pruntrut)
• Tunnel de la Perche ( 1027 m, bypass Pruntrut)
• Tunnel du Mont Terri ( 4068 m)
• Tunnel du Mont Russelin ( 3550 m)
• Tunnel de Choindez (3200 m, bypass the gorge of Choindez )
• Tunnel du Raimeux ( 3211 m, bypass the gorge of Moutier )
• Tunnel de Moutier ( 1191 m, bypass Moutier )
• Tunnel du Graitery ( 2,420 m, bypass the gorge of Courtland )
• Tunnel Sous le Mont (1210 m, bypass Tavannes )
• Tunnel de Pierre Pertuis ( 2208 m, passing under the watershed Birs - Schüss )

There are other 16 tunnels, which are less than 1 km long and were partially created in the mining industry. Some tunnels are or were built to protect the residents of nearby villages or districts before the noise emissions.

History

The A16 was not from the beginning to the national road network in Switzerland, although the first projects a rapid Jura crossing between Biel and Belfort already existed in 1964. The inclusion of the A16 in the plan of the national road network came in 1984, after the population of the canton of Jura had agreed by a large majority ( 71%) of the construction. The highway should be the economically underdeveloped region of the Jura and the Ajoie new impetus. The efficient transport corridor to ensure a much faster connection to the rest of Switzerland after completion.

Even after the inclusion in the national road network, there was strong opposition from environmentalists against the project. As part of the so-called cloverleaf initiatives of the construction of the A16 the entire Swiss population should be put to a vote. Due to the high acceptance of the project in the affected regions, the desire was withdrawn before the vote on the other controversial national road sections ( in April 1990).

Paleontology

During the construction of the A16 around 500 Dinosaur footprints were found near Courtedoux on a stone slab that had lived before about 150 million years ago in this area.