Highway expansion: A look into the 22nd century or pure nostalgia?
This week the voting documents arrived, and this time I am actually facing a challenge. Usually I decide after a few minutes – mostly instinctively. The more sensational a campaign, the more I keep my distance (Sorry, SVP). But when it comes to highway expansion it looks a bit different. I am really torn.
On one side we at Sponti-Car loudly call for a connected, multimodal, climate‑neutral Mobilität. Fewer private cars, more öffentlicher traffic and bike paths. Sounds great, right? But then comes the downside – namely the daily madness on the streets. «es schleckt kei Geiss weg»: Our highways are überlasted, date from the last millennium and simply have too little Kapazität für the entire traffic.
How Albert Rösti yesterday in the Arena at Sandro Brotz said: «Because traffic is already there»
But what happens with a yes to the expansion on November 24, 2024?
First of all: nothing. The concrete mixers certainly aren't rolling in on Monday. It takes decades before such a project really gets started. We have ahead of us: planning, permits, appeals, court rulings and then… sometime the construction. That means, until then the traffic jam stays faithful to us, and while the world keeps turning, traffic keeps growing. And until the expansion is finally finished, it could be that the highway itself is already outdated – maybe we'll need flight paths for air taxis then or we can simply beam back and forth (Beam me up, Scotty)
In contrast to steel and concrete, technologies are developing at lightning speed. While we are still considering how many lanes per direction are needed, appealing in court and arguing about routing, someone may already have made the next big invention.
But what could one do instead?
How about an update of the regulatory framework? It goes faster, often costs less and could already influence traffic today. Here are a few suggestions:
– Road-Pricing instead of flat tax: Whoever wants to go down the Gotthard pays according to distance and time of day. So the evening traffic becomes a premium experience.
– Transit fees: If trucks already cross Switzerland, they could at least pay more, instead of leaving the expensive built NEAT lying on the left.
– Ride-Pooling: Bonus points for everyone who does not sit solo in the car – saves space on the streets and promotes the social contacts for which we, thanks to «Social Media», have too little time.
– City-Maut: Whoever wants to cram themselves into the city, even though there is a first‑class ÖV, pays extra. Maybe one or the other can still be convinced to take the train.
– Large Cars – high costs: Big SUVs, über‑powered limousines? Make them more expensive.
– Discounted GA for car-free households: An incentive system that rewards genuine change of mindset.
One could actually do so much – and that more quickly and flexibly than with a highway expansion that will be finished when we are all long since traveling in drone taxis. So, what is the right decision? It certainly won’t be easy, but a few new approaches and a bit of creativity can certainly not do any harm
