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For decades, motorists in the Emmental have been stuck in traffic jams every working day. As an example for Switzerland, the parliament splits.
The same picture every day of the week: bumper to bumper, annoyed drivers and annoyed residents in Oberburg near Burgdorf BE. «In the morning the traffic from Langnau comes to a standstill, in the evening the other way around. noise, traffic jam. It’s not practical to live here,” says Hubert Hofmann.
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Buses also get stuck in traffic jams. Traffic jams happen every day during rush hour.
zvg/Canton of Berne
Hofmann is the fourth generation to run a car garage right on the busy street in Oberburg. A possible bypass of the place has occupied his family for a long time – only as a bogeyman: “50 years ago as a little boy my father had existential fears.” They had heard of a planned bypass and feared that if traffic was diverted, they would have no more through traffic and customers. Today, however, it’s the traffic—too much traffic—that puts customers off. Hofmann is now hoping for a bypass.
Confectionery owner Ruedi Neuhaus follows a similar path a few meters further. “If there is a traffic jam, the customers don’t want to stop and nobody comes from Burgdorf because it takes too long.” Neuhaus has to start over and over again with his stories because the many trucks on the road are making too much noise.
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The through-road on the Emmentalstrasse in Oberburg – not a pretty village, says the mayor.
zvg/Canton of Berne
That doesn’t make his community attractive, according to Mayor Werner Kobler: “The quality of life suffers. It is not interesting to invest in the houses on Emmentalstrasse. The picture of the village isn’t exactly pretty.” Kobler is convinced that the planned bypass would improve the quality of the village.
This is how the Emmental should be freed from traffic
The situation is similar a few kilometers further in Oberaargau around Aarwangen BE. The canton has therefore been planning road projects with bypasses, roundabouts and tunnels for years in order to relieve both regions of traffic. The cantonal parliament approved a total of 412 million francs this week. However, the debate tore urban-rural and left-right rifts.
Regions are played off against each other
As an example for Switzerland, these bypasses in the canton of Bern show that everyone agrees: things cannot go on like this. “The population has been suffering for decades,” says SVP Councilor Andrea Gschwend. “Many suffer from motorized traffic, from the noise, from the traffic jams. It’s not a nice situation, »says the Green Councilor Anna de Quervain. However, there is a great deal of disagreement as to how the problem will be solved.
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Nobody wants traffic jams – but right and left see other solutions.
zvg/Canton of Berne
Representatives of left-green and of the cities do not want any new roads – that is a step backwards for the climate goals. Representatives of the bourgeois and right-wing camps as well as from the state support the road projects. It is said that public transport in the country cannot do everything.
people with the last word
Central Councilor Bernhard Riem warns against playing off city against country in transport projects. “How do you want to win over the population for a tram in Bern when, on the other hand, decent transport solutions are denied as a fundamental opposition to cars.” Parliament followed those votes this week and approved both the money for the transport project in the Emmental and that in Oberaargau.
However, the people should have the last word; the Greens have already announced that they will hold a referendum on both projects.
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Traffic jam in the Klus between Oensingen and Balsthal
SRF
For more than 40 years, the canton of Solothurn has been looking for a solution to the nightly traffic jam in the Klus between Oensingen and Balsthal. Several projects have already been planned and rejected. In September 2021, the people then approved a new road that would cost 74 million francs with the viaduct and tunnel.
The opponents had already criticized the project before the vote and went to court. Two weeks ago they were right by the administrative court. The Klus bypass would interfere too much with the federally protected townscape and could not be built like this.
The canton of Solothurn took the judgment to the Federal Supreme Court this week.