Everybody knows it’s hard to give up going on holiday. And why shouldn’t it be? But it’s just as hard to give up going on holiday in our own car. So, how should we get from one place to the next in our time off, and what are the consequences of choosing one means of transport rather than another? These and other related questions are tackled in a new dossier published by CIPRA (International Commission for the Protection of the Alps), which has for years been involved in research and debate on the subject of traffic throughout the Alps. The introduction hammers it home for us: “In countries like Austria, Switzerland or Germany, the percentage of holiday motor traffic is already as much as 50-60% of total trafficâ€. One fact will serve as an illustration. Every year each Swiss citizen drives an average of 13,800 km during holidays; this number extrapolated for the whole population of Switzerland gives a mind-boggling 106 billion km (see table). “In future this kind of traffic is destined to represent an ever-increasing percentage of the totalâ€. Prospects are not bright, then. When we think that for years battles have raged over heavy goods traffic going through Alpine tunnels, traffic which is the cause of chronic illness in the local communities affected and of difficulty in breathing a certain political air at all levels of government, we must accept that this problem is acquiring a new dimension linked to our holiday habits.
But the problems don’t finish here. The polluted air of our towns and cities points to the fact that everyday car use also plays a major part in the deterioration of the quality of our environment. And once again, here is the little state of Liechtenstein showing a possible way to the future, with a project for a tramway aimed partly at daily and work-allied traffic. This prosperous state between Switzerland and Austria, with only 33, 500 inhabitants, is invaded every day by 13,000 workers who commute from bordering areas. The result is traffic typical of a city, with tailbacks of cars, lorries and buses on the main roads. The local Traffic and Environment Association (Ata) is proposing new solutions, in particular a tram network which would serve Liechtenstein and neighbouring areas. A press release from Alpmedia.net says “The tram could use a part of the rail network in Switzerland and Austria, and to some extent would be laid out over existing roads, linking the major centres of Sargans, Buchs and FledKirch and providing a service to all the towns on the Liechtenstein valley floor. The network would occupy a length of 30 kmâ€. This kind of solution would moreover involve a limited investment (around 15 million Swiss francs per km), because it would use part of the existing rail network, thus restricting the spread of construction works and minimising environmental impact.
To read the whole text of the dossier “Mobilità nel tempo liberoâ€, go to the relevant section of www.alpmedia.net
The plan for the tram network is available from ATA: ATA/VCL, Postfach 813, FL-9490 Vaduz,
www.vcl.li
