Heavy Easter traffic – 22 kilometers of traffic jams: More than 3.5 hours of waiting at the Gotthard – News

  • In front of the Gotthard north portal in Göschenen, drivers will need more patience this Easter than they have in a long time.
  • Traffic on the A2 southbound is currently backed up over a length of 22 kilometers.
  • This corresponds to a time loss of 3 hours and 40 minutes, as reported by the TCS.
  • Even on the night of Good Friday, the traffic jam length had never dropped below 8 kilometers.

Patience was also required on the San Bernardino route: in the morning, travelers on the A13 for the section between Chur and Bonaduz took about an hour longer than usual, as Barbara Roelli from Viasuisse said.

According to Roelli, the volume of traffic this year is also high compared to the time before the pandemic. At least in the period between 2013 and 2019, traffic jams in front of the Gotthard on Good Friday were never recorded for as long as they are now. In 2020, the authorities had generally advised against traveling to the southern canton due to the tense corona situation in Ticino, and the Easter traffic jam had not materialized at all. Traffic jams were recorded in 2021, but to a relatively small extent.

Better to wait a few more hours!

According to Viasuisse, the traffic situation on the Gotthard should ease over the course of the day. In the years before the pandemic, the maximum traffic jam length was registered between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Good Friday, according to Roelli. In 2019, traffic in front of the Gotthard north portal in Göschenen flowed largely normally again on Good Friday from around 7 p.m.

Striking: the cars had already been backed up for ten kilometers on Wednesday afternoon. This number represents a record, wrote Viasuisse. In the past seven years, the traffic jams in front of the Gotthard tunnel on the Wednesday before Easter would never have been more than seven kilometers.

In Ticino, summery weather is tempting during the Easter days. On Saturday, SRF Meteo expects 26 degrees in places. Temperatures are likely to drop slightly on Sunday and Monday, despite the sunshine.

Legend:

Patience is required before the Gotthard. As this picture from Erstfeld (UR) from Friday morning shows.

SRF

Large rush also at the airports

Zurich Airport expects around 70,000 passengers a day. This corresponds to around 70 percent of the passenger volume in the period before the corona pandemic, as media spokeswoman Jasmin Bodmer said.

For comparison: At Easter a year ago, Zurich Airport had an average of around 13,200 people a day. According to Bodmer, city trips to London or Amsterdam are particularly popular, as are flights to Palma de Mallorca or Dublin. A total of around 60 airlines are flying to around 190 destinations these days.

Geneva Airport is also expecting a major step towards normalizing passenger numbers. He expects around 187,000 travelers over the four days of the long Easter weekend, as media spokesman Ignace Jeannerat said. This corresponds to almost 85 percent of the passenger volume at Easter 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

In view of the protective measures still in force in many countries, Geneva Airport recommends arriving at least three hours before departure. It is also advisable to bring a mask with you, as some airlines still require it.

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