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Traffic snarls up at Gotthard as flow fails
Page 8
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• The St Gotthard tunnel has been hit by massive traffic delays following the introduction of a phased system designed to control the flow of heavy vehicles.
Since the system came into force on 30 September the Swiss authorities have twice been forced to ban HGVs from the tunnel because of extreme congestion. One driver who phoned CM from Switzerland on Monday (7 October), said the system of traffic-lights on the south-bound approach road had caused long queues.
The phased system, designed to restrict the number of HGVs going through the tunnel to 3,000 a day, has been widely condemned. Critics say there should be a second "tube" in the tunnel to improve traffic flow; this is likely to be the subject of a referendum in Switzerland, In October 2001 the St Gotthard tunnel was closed by a fire that killed 11 people. It was started by a head-on collision between two trucks.
Mike Freeman, Road Haulage Association head of international affairs, says the latest delays show that the "whole Alpine issue needs to be sorted out".