DETEC approves road construction projects
The Department of Transport (DETEC) has distributed the 2.8 billion Swiss francs made available by the federal government for road construction. The lion's share of CHF 1.6 billion will go towards improving existing national roads.
This year the federal government will spend a total of around CHF 2.8 billion on new or continued work on the Swiss road network. The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications(DETEC) has now approved the corresponding construction programmes.
According to this, by far the largest part of 1.6 billion Swiss francs will be spent on the maintenance and improvement of the existing national road network. A total of 482 million Swiss francs will be available in 2023 for projects within the framework of the Strategic Development Programme for National Roads and for larger projects. According to a press release from the Federal Roads Office, these funds will be invested mainly in the second tube of the Gotthard road tunnel, the six-lane expansion of the Zurich northern bypass (A1), the Lucerne bypass (A2) and the Le Locle bypass (A20).
In addition, around 453 million Swiss francs are earmarked for the maintenance, the so-called operational maintenance, of the national road network. This includes, among other things, winter services, greenery maintenance, removal of accident damage and cleaning.
This year, 264 million Swiss francs are available for new constructions within the framework of the network completion, a joint task between the federal government and the cantons, which was decided in 1960. The largest credit, 111 million, was allocated to the canton of Valais. Obwalden receives 18 million, Schwyz 12 million and Uri 7 million.