Magadino plain
The Magadino Plain ( Piano di Magadino in Italian ) is located in southern Switzerland in the canton of Ticino .
geography
The Magadino plain extends from the northern end of Lake Maggiore for less than 15 kilometers to Bellinzona, the capital of the canton . It got its name from the place Magadino , which lies at its southwestern end on the lake.
The Magadino plain was created by the sediments that the Ticino deposited here. Until the river was corrected between 1888 and 1912, the area was an inaccessible marshland that was full of germs and, at most, occasionally used by shepherds as pasture. All villages are protected from flooding on the edge of the plain on raised alluvial cones of the side streams.
The Magadino Plain is a strategic gateway from Italy to the Gotthard . From 1913 to 1918 artillery and infantry works were built in Gordola and Magadino , which were modernized from 1939 to 1945.
use
With the water corrections at the end of the 19th century, the Ticino, which previously used the entire width of the valley in countless meanders , was forced into a 60 m wide, straight channel . Flood dams on both sides of the banks prevent the river from overflowing.
The former marshland, which was drained by extensive drainage channels, is now an intensively used agricultural area, including rice cultivation , but also where industry has settled. Locarno airfield is located in the lower part of the level .
Only in the direct mouth of the Ticino was a protected floodplain area of national importance with the Bolle of Magadino , which with its oxbow lakes, reed belts, ponds and alluvial forests forms a species-rich biotope for many rare animal species.
Planned infrastructure construction
Numerous construction projects in the Magadino Plain limit the increasingly scarce land reserves. Between Camorino and Sant'Antonino , the access to the Ceneri Base Tunnel , which is due to open in 2020, was built directly at the A2 motorway junction . With the Bellinzona railway bypass , another railway line could cross the area if it is built. At the intersection between the old railway line and the new Magadino crossing at Camorino, a new transfer station is planned, the Stazione Ticino .
In order to relieve the villages of through traffic on the canton road, the canton is planning to build a new bypass road, the so-called variant 95 , the course of which is highly controversial. There are also plans to expand Locarno near Tenero , which is used by the military and private aviation at the same time .
literature
- Cristian Scapozza: L'evoluzione degli ambienti fluviali del Piano di Magadino dall'anno 1000 a oggi. In: Archivio Storico Ticinese , N. 153, Casagrande Sa, Bellinzona 2013, pp. 60–92.
- Sandro Guzzi-Heeb: Magadino plain. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Web links
- Magadino level at ethorama.library.ethz.ch/de/node
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 46 ° 9 ′ 49 " N , 8 ° 55 ′ 10" E ; CH1903: 714380 / 113544