Traffic jam at the Gotthard north portal begins even before the Easter holidays
Published: Wednesday, Mar 27th 2024, 17:51
Updated At: Wednesday, Mar 27th 2024, 16:52
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Despite the forecast of continuous rain in the south, Easter travel to the south already began on Wednesday. For once, there were already traffic jams in the north: the reason for this was the sometimes precarious road conditions after snowfall.
By 4 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, there were traffic jams of up to nine kilometers in front of the Gotthard north portal on the A2 freeway. According to traffic information from the Touring Club of Switzerland, this meant a waiting time of up to one and a half hours. There were also traffic jams further south at the Chiasso-Brogeda border crossing due to congestion.
In the morning, traffic was initially slow to move. By lunchtime, the traffic jam was still only a good one and a half kilometers long.
Until the early afternoon, however, drivers on the south side of the Gotthard tunnel in the northbound direction had a hard time driving on partially snow-covered roads. Temporarily, there were traffic jams of around four kilometers in length in front of the south portal of the tunnel.
According to SRF Meteo, the freeway in Leventina was covered in snow above around 500 meters on Wednesday morning. Snow even fell in Biasca TI at around 300 meters above sea level. In the early afternoon, the line of cars at the south portal grew to 3.9 kilometers.
According to weather forecasts, 30 to 70 millimetres of precipitation are likely to fall on the southern side of the Alps in the coming days. This is due to a cold front moving across Switzerland from west to east.
Congestion leads to continuous rain in the south
The weather over Easter will vary greatly from region to region in Switzerland: According to Meteonews, it is likely to be friendliest and warmest from Good Friday to Easter Sunday with partly stormy Föhn winds in the Alpine valleys in the east, while the worst and coolest with partly heavy precipitation will be in the south. In the west, the weather is likely to be changeable and occasionally wet. Widespread precipitation is to be expected on Easter Monday.
The Federal Roads Office (Astra) expected Easter traffic to start early Wednesday afternoon despite the poor weather forecasts for the south. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, travelers will also have to bring more time and nerves with them. According to Astra, some day-trippers are also likely to travel to the ski resorts due to the early Easter date. Particular attention should be paid to the weather conditions on these routes.
The traffic jam at the Gotthard has been a recurring event for years. The record for the length of traffic jams since the Gotthard tunnel was opened in 1980 was set in 1998, when the onset of winter at Easter led to a traffic jam 25 kilometers long.
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