Limmat valley branch
| Limmat valley branch | |
|---|---|
     
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| location | |
| Country: | Switzerland |
| Canton : | Canton Zurich |
| Coordinates: | 674 756 / 251660 |
| Basic data | |
| Design type: | Mixture of Maltese cross / windmill |
The Limmattal junction (colloquially Limmattalerkreuz ) is a motorway junction in the Limmattal in the western part of the canton of Zurich . This junction is the only completely built motorway junction in the national road network in Switzerland . The cross connects the Zurich north ring with the west bypass of Zurich and is a structural hybrid between a Maltese cross and a windmill .
location
The Limmattal junction is located in a reforested area in the municipal areas of Unterengstringen and Weiningen in the canton of Zurich. The A1 ( E60 ) , which runs from west to north, and the A4 ( E41 ), which runs from north to south , meet at this junction . On the line of the A1 coming from the west, the A3 is also located , but it turns south at the Limmattal junction. The A1H motorway branch begins east of the Limmattal junction and leads directly to the western end of the motorway in Zurich (Zurich Hardturm).
Whereas in the past the main traffic from the Bern / Basel region in the direction of Graubünden still had to travel via the A1H through the city of Zurich, since the opening of the Uetliberg tunnel, most of the traffic has flowed from west to south.
Traffic engineering
The Limmattal junction is marked with the usual signs for a motorway junction ( 
). When numbering the exits and branches, the cross bears the number 59 from the A1. For strand A1H it would be number 1 and for the west ring of the A3 and A4 number 26 (but neither of these are signposted).
Inside the motorway junction, the speed is normally limited to 100 km / h for passing vehicles and 80 km / h for vehicles turning. However, the speed can be adjusted at any time on the signage displays.
Problem
Due to its location in the metropolitan area of Zurich, the branch is very busy. Traffic jams are omnipresent at the junction of the Limmattal. The north of the junction Limmattal located, two-lane Gubristtunnel has been the expansion of Baregg tunnel the new bottleneck. The backlogs at the south portal of the Gubrist tunnel reach back to the motorway junction at peak times and paralyze traffic to the east or south. An expansion of the Gubrist tunnel is in the planning phase.