Mositunnel

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The Mositunnel is a two-lane road tunnel on the A4 in Switzerland . The traffic flows in oncoming traffic, the two lanes are separated by a double center line. As the main component of the bypass around Brunnen SZ between the junctions Brunnen Nord (full connection) and Brunnen Süd (half connection), the tunnel is of great importance. It also connects the A4 motorway with the Axenstrasse . With a length of around 1,100 meters, it will be the longest road tunnel in Canton Schwyz until the opening of the Morschacher Tunnel, which is half of the new Axentunnels . The maximum permitted speed in the tunnel is 80 km / h, on the rest of the road it is 100 km / h.

purpose

The motorway route Brunnen Nord - Brunnen Süd was opened in 1964 as a bypass around Brunn, the northern continuation towards Goldau followed later as a result of the discussions about a Urmibergtunnel. With the tunnel, the center of the village of Brunnens was relieved of traffic in the direction of Uri / Gotthard. When the new Morschach tunnel between Brunnen - Sisikon is opened to traffic in 2020, the autostrasse will lose its approval and will be classified as the main road. This downgrading has already been requested several times by the municipality of Ingenbohl , but was always rejected on the grounds that the Axentunnel was being built.

safety

Safety is a major problem in the tunnel. Traffic is oncoming traffic, which has already led to several serious accidents (see below). Some motorists said that the windshield fogged up when driving through the tunnel. In addition, there is no safety tunnel, just planned. In an international ADAC test, the Mositunnel was the only tunnel tested in Switzerland to receive the rating “unsafe”.

Accidents

In the past three serious traffic accidents occurred within 13 months in the Mositunnel, which resulted in a total of three deaths. It is interesting that those who caused the accidents always drove in the south direction.

  • On November 10, 2007, a passenger car with Schwyz license plates got into the opposite lane for unexplained reasons and collided with a truck. The couple in the car did not survive the accident.
  • On March 17, 2008, for unknown reasons, a vehicle ran into the opposite lane and collided with a truck. The person who caused the accident died at the scene of the accident.
  • On December 11, 2008, a Mazda without an airbag got into the opposite lane for unknown reasons and collided with a truck. The truck driver lost control of his vehicle and rammed another car and finally the tunnel wall. Three people suffered injuries - one of them life-threatening.

After these accidents, which always followed the same pattern, safety precautions were taken. In this way, the median is made reflective again. A speed reduction from 80 to 60 km / h was also discussed. A safety tunnel is also up for discussion. Directional arrows have already been drawn on the road surface, but these are very controversial as motorcyclists spoke of the risk of slipping on wet roads.

future

When the two controversial Axentunnels, in particular the Morschacher Tunnel, are opened, the car road will be classified as a main road. The exits Brunnen Nord and Brunnen Süd will be closed. According to the new NEAT planning concept, the A4 motorway in the Felderboden - Unterschönenbuch area will be moved to the north, so that the railway will come to a standstill on the previous motorway. Via a roundabout, the Mositunnel-Strasse will flow into the Brunnen - Schwyz street. It then forms the access to the new Brunnen motorway junction, which comes to stand as an underground roundabout in Felderboden, east of the previous Brunnen Nord junction. Until then, the focus is on safety precautions.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 20M Minuten.ch - The most dangerous tunnel in Switzerland
  2. ↑ 20M Minuten.ch - Two dead in a horror accident in an unsafe Mositunnel
  3. ↑ 20M Minuten.ch - Frontal crash in the most dangerous tunnel in Switzerland
  4. ↑ Messenger of the Urschweiz article about the directional arrows in the Mositunnel (PDF; 158 kB)
  5. ↑ Article on the new Axentunnels (PDF)

Coordinates: 46 ° 59 ′ 42 "  N , 8 ° 36 ′ 52"  E ; CH1903:  689433  /  205,552