ASTAG – Traffic Congestion Figures Switzerland 2021

The significant overload of the road infrastructure has severely restricted traffic flow on the national roads in the past year and led to a massive increase in traffic congestion. The Swiss Commercial Vehicle Association ASTAG calls for further infrastructure expansion to ensure smooth supply and disposal in Switzerland. Only in this way can detours and massive additional costs be avoided – for the benefit of the economy and the environment.

(Bern) The Commercial Vehicle Association ASTAG expresses concern about the disproportionate increase in traffic congestion hours in relation to driving performance. In total, traffic was congested for 32,481 hours on Swiss roads in 2021, reaching a level comparable to the pre-Corona period. Compared to the previous year (22,575 congestion hours), this represents an increase of +43.9%. The cause of the increase in congestion hours is, in most cases, traffic overload (89%). This highlights the necessity for the immediate expansion of the road infrastructure. Therefore, ASTAG continues to demand a systematic revision of the main routes in coordination with the expansion of secondary routes. Only in this way can traffic flow be ensured.

Double Burden During Peak Times

The problem of the massive increase in congestion hours is serious for the road transport industry, as a look at the newly published weekly and daily traffic volume shows: In the morning, commuter traffic and in the evening, shopping and leisure traffic lead to increased traffic volume. During these two time periods, the demand for goods from the economy and consumers also reaches its peak. In the morning, the delivery of goods must be ensured. In the evening, pickups are made for the timely delivery of goods for the next day.

“The increase in congestion hours threatens this system-relevant process,” warns ASTAG President Thierry Burkart. It causes high additional costs due to productivity losses for both the transport industry and the economy and population. The unecological stop-and-go traffic also has consequences for fuel consumption and the environment.

The ASTRA report on traffic development and traffic flow 2021 also reveals a positive point: Despite the increasing demand for transport services, the vehicle kilometers traveled in heavy traffic have hardly changed. “The low share of heavy goods vehicles in the total traffic volume of only 5.9% underscores the efficiency achieved by the road transport industry,” says Thierry Burkart.

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