Referendum in Switzerland turns against highway expansion
The national populist Swiss People's Party has failed in its plans to expand the highway. The majority of its supporters voted against it out of xenophobia.
Highway construction site in Switzerland
(Image: Astra)
The referendum on the Swiss Ministry of Transport's plans came as a surprise: just under 53% voted against the widening of three sections of highway near Geneva and the federal capital Bern by two lanes each, as well as tunnels in Basel, Schaffhausen and St. Gallen.
According to traffic planners and many of those affected, the expansions are necessary because the highway network planned in the 1960s is heavily overloaded at these critical points. Traffic has roughly doubled since 1990, resulting in regular long traffic jams on the highway sections. The plan was to expand the national roads by 2040 at an estimated cost of five billion Swiss francs, equivalent to around 5.37 billion euros. The first eight-lane section in Switzerland would have been built in Bern.
Traffic turnaround and xenophobia
The Greens in parliament, who have always been against transportation projects, are now talking about a traffic turnaround following the rejection of the government's plans. Instead of building roads, they want to promote rail and local public transport and build cycle paths. However, the decisive factor in the decision was the national populist party SVP, a good two-thirds of whose voters voted against the highway plans according to exit polls.
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Surprisingly, many no votes came from the camp of the traditionally reliable highway supporters. This time, however, the main argument on the part of the reactionaries was a socio-political one: the majority of SVP voters were of the opinion that an alleged "foreign infiltration" with too many foreigners leads to notorious traffic chaos. There was therefore no point in countering the pressure of foreign infiltration by expanding the infrastructure when the problem could actually be solved much more cheaply in a completely different way. The fact that transport minister Albert Rösti – an SVP man – tried to turn the tide in view of the mood no longer worked. In view of the polls before the vote, he felt compelled to shout to his own party colleagues: "A no to the expansion of the freeway will not stop immigration."
(fpi)