Skip to main content

Switzerland to more than double road tax to tackle congestion

The cost of the Swiss road tax vignette will more than double to US$106.50 per year from just over $40 at present. With the extra money raised, the Swiss Federal Council wants to tackle congestion on the roads throughout the country and also extend the road network.
March 16, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The cost of the Swiss road tax vignette will more than double to US$106.50 per year from just over $40 at present. With the extra money raised, the 2972 Swiss Federal Council wants to tackle congestion on the roads throughout the country and also extend the road network. This will see nearly 400 kilometres of new road added to the network in 2014, exclusively focusing on existing cantonal road links.

Other ways in which congestion will be tackled is through the opening of hard shoulders and temporary reduction of motorway speeds from 120 km/h to 100 or 80 km/h at certain times. The 2970 Swiss Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek) says a section of motorway reaches its maximum capacity when vehicles travel at 85 km/h.

There were some 16,000 hours of traffic congestion on Swiss roads in 2010, which was a 30 per cent increase year-on-year. The Swiss Federal Council says the total investment in roads will cost some US$327 milion per year, nearly half of which will come from the federal government and the balance from cantons.

Related Content

  • Texas highway project tackles congestion
    May 3, 2012
    A new highway project in Texas will tackle peak congestion A major highway job is underway in Texas at present where contractor Northgate Constructors, a joint venture between Kiewit & Zachary, is working on the huge DFW Connector Project. Northgate is using equipment from Guntert & Zimmerman, an S850, S600, and two TC1500s, on the job.
  • Texas highway project tackles congestion
    April 10, 2012
    A new highway project in Texas will tackle peak congestion
  • CONEXPO Russia is rouble rouser
    July 19, 2012
    Huge investment in new and existing Russian transport infrastructure has created a wealth of commercial opportunities for major construction equipment manufacturers as Guy Woodford discovered at the recent CTT 2012/CONEXPO Russia exhibition A 20% rise in visitor numbers and a 15% increase in exhibitors at this year’s CTT 2012/CONEXPO Russia, compared to 2011 show levels, illustrated the attraction of big infrastructure project spending in Russia to the world’s largest construction equipment companies.
  • Show me the money at Australian Summit
    September 4, 2012
    The question of how to finance and fund major road infrastructure projects in Australia – including the potential role of user-pays charging as a funding solution – was top of mind at the recent Roads Australia National Summit in Sydney. The two-day summit, organised by peak national body Roads Australia, is the largest and most influential annual gathering of industry decision-makers in the country. This year’s summit was held against a backdrop of concern over the future of a raft of major road projects t