Gotthard and the other tunnels and passes

Transportation, Travel and Trips
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Ascension long weekend, let’s go to Ticino and Italy! If you’re new to Switzerland you’ve heard people at work talking about this. However, there’s a beautiful white wall called the Alps that needs to be crossed first.

There are many options to cross the Alps . Avoid spending 2 hours or more behind someone who rented a caravan or mobile home a few days earlier and cannot help but burning the clutch and filling up the air with race track aromas.

So, Touring Club Suisse or TCS, has a map showing current traffic conditions in most Swiss roads. The map here: Verkehrsinfo: Staumeldungen und Strassenzustand - TCS Schweiz

There are also twitter accounts from TCS like @TCSGotthard that publish updates every 10-20 mins.

If you’re into Schaedenfreude, 20min has live reporting on how a miserable day is people having 15 Kilometer Stau vor dem Gotthardtunnel - 20 Minuten

I bet a round of beers that this year a record of people stuck in traffic will be broken. The guys that check the Moon and decide when Easter shall be celebrated made a choice of days too close to the winter. No pass on the top of Alps is already open to alleviate traffic on the tunnels. By the way, this is the TCS website for Alps passes status Welche Pässe sind offen? Das Pässe-Portal Schweiz - TCS Schweiz

We plan to go to open cellars in Ticino on Saturday (Cantine Aperte Sottoceneri). Usually, If we drive leave Araau at 6h00-6h30 it’s fine. No wait at all at the Gotthard, even on complicate weekends.

Last, the Gotthard tunnel needs some love and care during some nights of the year. Nights is an euphemism, because sometimes the tunnel is closed at 20h00 for repair work. Check the dates and avoid surprises. Also TCS website Sperrungen & Umfahrungen des Gotthardtunnels - TCS Schweiz

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Your vehicle’s sat nav should give you full details of traffic problems. If not google maps on your phone…

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I once made the mistake looking at the car nav system and turning off the brain.

One morning we left home, car said 20+ min delay, no that bad right? Every km closer to the tunnel, the forecasted delay goes up.While waiting at the first traffic light in Erstfelden, estimated delay reached 70+ min. In the end, the delay was almost 2 hours. Having not much to do while stuck on traffic, we compared BMW estimates with TCS. BMW estimated delay was too optimistic.

Anyway, the point is to NOT be there at the wrong time. LIke right now, 13km line of cars, 2h10m of estimated delay.

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James: By the way, the same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?

Miss Sophie: The same procedure as every year James!

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Not all car satnavs are equal. Google maps is usually fairly accurate and often more immediate and up-to-date, but I always check TCS as well, who sometimes have a bit more info, like length of actual or future road closures, stuff like that.