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.
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
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.
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.
Last weekend, against good judgement…we went to Ticino open cellars (cantine aperte) on Saturday morning via the San Bernardino tunnel.
Left home at 6h30 and got caught in a bit of traffic (15-20min wait) just after Chur where the 4 lanes end and it becomes a 2 lane road for the Isla Bella tunnel. The rest of the drive across the Alps was at the speed of big trucks which allowed to enjoy the views. The Sun was already warming up the air in a beautiful Spring day, so open the roof and enjoy the San Bernardino road…only make sure it’s not behind a big truck blocking the view. Fun/worry, the prevailing smell of brake pads when you’re down by Grono (GR). People is not used to engine braking…or overloaded vehicles
Meanwhile at the Gotthard…
The traffic jam at the Gotthard north portal reached a length of 20 kilometres on the motorway between canton Nidwalden and canton Uri on Saturday morning (18.05.2024). Shortly after 9am, Travellers faced waiting times of more than three hours, according to auto group Touring Club Suisse
The tweet from TCS on Saturday at 10h37 is scary: 22 km line, estimated wait time 3 hours 40 min.
After 2 days of fooling around Bellinzona, return around 19h30 on Sunday evening and one of the best drives across the Alps. Sun still shining and very few clouds. It’s the first time I’ve seen the peaks of some mountains along the road. Almost 200 km on cruise control because very few other people on the road.
Kinda ruins the holiday - no? I’ve always tried to take the pass when going south, if you get out early enough it’s much better. You don’t save a ton of time, but at least it’s moving and the pass is quite beautiful. Northbound doesn’t really work, the exit is quite close to the tunnel entrance, or maybe I missed something further back.
And I don’t know how the villages are taking it. Last year the police was shutting off highway exits, and would not allow cars in the smaller streets - I would guess to not overbear them with traffic. But it was not clear which exits were open and which not, we ended up waiting for more than 45min sitting on a queue for a police car to arrive and making it clear that it was not possible to leave the highway at that point and there would be another exit available down the road…
On Thursday, thousands of vehicles traveling northbound in Italy towards Austria clogged the roads in the Isarco Valley. As the hours passed, it emerged that the cause was a Google server, which had not correctly displayed a section of the northbound carriageway of the highway.
Numerous drivers had chosen the route because the Google Maps application had deemed it more advantageous to drive on the main road than on the highway. The navigation devices then recommended taking an exit and continuing on the main road, which was then congested for hours.
Before kids, I used to spend a lot of my summer free time riding my road bike over most of these passes. My favourite round was Albula and Fluela anti-clockwise from Davos.
I posted the news about the indefinite closing of the A13 Bernardino route due to flood damage in the Misox area (between San Bernadino and Biasca) here for a reason. The Bernardino route is the main alternative to the Gotthard bottleneck so that is significant traffic news.
Now I understand why I saw yesterday a sign on the A1 about a 9km line at the Gotthard tunnel. After the failure of A13, there is no alternative to it in Switzerland to cross the Alps in a major road
Today, the TCS software failed. There is some traffic, but a 4 day wait for 10km of stationary traffic? Don’t think so…Unless this is Cotazar’s Southern Highway
Someone from the Federal Roads Office talked to the press yesterday. 3 to 4 weeks to repair and open half the A13 (San Bernardino tunnel highway). This estimate relies on the assumption of no more storms and repair works can be done safely.
This means traffic at Gotthard tunnel will be miserable for the next month, and probably dangerous. All those caravans being pulled with a tired car engine and stuck for hours in a climb are just a time bomb. Either a simple breakdown or fire. So, quick summary of how to read the signals at Gotthard:
Yellow blinking light: incident in the tunnel, e.g. broken car, so drive carefully.
Red light: DO NOT ENTER THE TUNNEL because fire, accident or big objects on the road.
