geography • traffic

Traffic in Switzerland In Switzerland one can drive on today over 30 passes. Alpine passes are easy to drive, but reasonable care must be taken on more narrow, winding roads. Passes can be avoided where there are road tunnels or car-trains. The St. Gotthardtunnel at 17 kilometres is one of the largest road tunnels of the world.  In Switzerland you can drive on the right. Speed limits are: freeways 120 km/h (75 mph) highways 80 km/h (50 mph) and cities 50 km/h (31 mph). The distances in Switzerland are not very long. The longest distance for instance is from Geneva to St. Moritz, that is about 483 kilometres. In Switzerland there are no long distances between cities. The biggest traffic jams are at the end of workday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. when people are on their way home. However it doesn't usually take very long until the traffic is back to normal.       According to statistics each third person owns a vehicle. You don't really need a car because cities and towns offer an excellent transportation network.

The air traffic in Switzerland is very important. The S-Air Group (Swissair) is one of the largest airlines at all. Air traffic is very important for the success of Switzerland. Switzerland has three important intercontinental airports in Geneva, Basel and Zurich.

The vessels on the Swiss lakes and rivers are very important for tourism. 12 lake steamers and 151 vessels operate on more than 20 waterways throughout the country. The Rhine represents the only navigable link to sea. Switzerland also has an ocean-going fleet consisting of freighters and tankers. The navigation on the Rhine is ideal for goods of all kinds and for containers too. The majority of the foreign trade in Switzerland is handled in the Rhine harbour in Basel.

In Switzerland we have many walking trails. They cover 50000 kilometres . They are clearly marked with many signposts.

Switzerland operates one of the finest public transportation system in the world. The railway network (5000 kilometres or 3100 miles) is dense. The engineering achievements are remarkable, the viaducts, bridges (5'933) and tunnels (624) are numerous. One of the largest good station in Switzerland is here in Spreitenbach. The national road network as planned will be 1.915 kilometres long. The railway network is about 5.000 kilometres long and is electrified throughout.

 

geography		© patrick hauser, martin voser team 28950, s3a sekundarschule spreitenbach, switzerland