A crack in the roof of the Gotthard road tunnel has serious consequences for one of the most important north-south connections through the Swiss Alps. The Federal Roads Office (Astra) reports that the tube will remain closed until further notice; the duration of the closure is not yet known.
Traffic is now being diverted via pass roads. This should add around an hour to the journey.
On Sunday, concrete parts suddenly fell from the ceiling near the north portal of the almost 17 kilometer long tunnel. According to the office, no one was injured. A driver reported to the newspaper View, she had a breakdown on Sunday in the tunnel on the way north a few kilometers before the exit portal. That’s why traffic was backed up behind her and no one was traveling north when the concrete parts fell.
A 25 meter long crack was discovered in the false ceiling. Above the false ceiling is the ventilation, which only works if the ceiling is intact. The tunnel was immediately closed. There were kilometer-long traffic jams on both sides. Buses and other large vehicles that were already in the tunnel had to reverse back to the entrance because they could not turn around.
The Gotthard tunnel, opened in 1980, runs under the Gotthard massif with one track each going north and south. The entrance and exit are at a good 1000 meters above sea level. Around 17,000 vehicles travel there in both directions every day.
Two tubes will not be available until 2032
The tunnel is one of the most important transport links through the Swiss Alps, also on the way from Germany to Italy. It connects central Switzerland with the canton of Ticino, which borders on Italy. Renovation has been planned for a long time. That’s why a second tube is currently being built. But it shouldn’t be finished until 2029. Traffic will then flow through the second tube until the first one is modernized. Both tubes should be available from 2032. However, there should only be one lane in each direction. There are no plans to increase capacity.
If the Gotthard closure lasts longer, drivers will also have to pay attention to night-time closures in the San Bernardino Tunnel, said an ADAC spokesman. The route was closed 17 times in October in both directions between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. due to maintenance and renovation work. The Gotthard Pass is not necessarily recommended as a diversion route, especially with camping trailers.
The 57 kilometer long Gotthard Base Tunnel from Erstfeld to Bodio is also currently closed to passenger traffic following the derailment of a freight train on August 10th. According to the Swiss Railways (SBB), the repairs there will take several months. A good four weeks after the accident, there were still damaged wagons in the tunnel in September. Passenger trains are now being diverted and travel through several spiral tunnels up to a height of over 1,000 meters before traveling 15 kilometers through the old Gotthard railway tunnel to Ticino. This also extends this journey by about an hour.