The Gotthard Tunnel is a road tunnel located in the southern center of Switzerland, connecting the two Swiss cantons of Uri and Ticino. At 16.9 kilometers in length, the Gotthard Tunnel (part of the Gotthard Base Tunnel) is the fourth longest tunnel in the world and the longest road tunnel in the Alps.
The Gotthard Tunnel is an important part of the A2 highway from Basel (in the far north of Switzerland) via Lucerne to Chiasso (in the far south of Switzerland) and is therefore used daily by around 17,000 vehicles.
In addition to the highway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel for railway traffic also runs through the Gotthard massif. Construction of the rail tunnel began in 1993 and was completed in 2016, officially opening on June 1, 2016. Since then, the Gotthard Tunnel has been used not only for car, motorcycle, and truck traffic, but also for freight and passenger transport, helping to ease traffic congestion. The rail system has a capacity of about 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains per day.
Due to around 900 accidents that occurred between 1980 and 2004 in the Gotthard Tunnel, and the already mentioned high traffic volume, safety is taken very seriously. For this reason, the Gotthard Tunnel has emergency bays every 750 meters (3x41 meters each). In addition, there are pressurized shelters every 250 meters that can accommodate 60 people and are connected to escape routes.
To manage safety specifically for trucks, truck access has been controlled since 2002 by a separate traffic light system that allows only two to three trucks per minute to enter the Gotthard Tunnel from a waiting area. This system reduces truck traffic from around 6,000 to about 4,000 trucks per day.
The Gotthard Tunnel is subject to the vignette requirement (vehicles up to 3.5 t GVW) or the payment of the heavy vehicle fee (vehicles over 3.5 t GVW) and is therefore toll required. This means you must possess a vignette or pay the heavy vehicle fee to use this route.
Unlike special toll tunnels like the Great St. Bernard Tunnel and the Munt La Schera Tunnel, no additional charges are required beyond your vignette or paid heavy vehicle fee. The Gotthard Tunnel is not a special toll route.
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