St Gotthard Pass
The St Gotthard Pass is a mountain pass in the Alps in Switzerland that crosses the St Gotthard massif and connects northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between the German speaking canton of Uri and the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, and connects the cities of Lucerne, Basel and Zurich with those of Bellinzona , Locarno and Lugano further south. It had not long been open when we drove through it June. It is popular with cyclists and bikers as the images show…but other modes of transport are also available.
Beneath the massif is the 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) in length Gotthard road tunnel and a major pass through the Alps. When it was constructed in 1980 it was the longest road tunnel in the world, but is now 5th longest. It is a single bore tunnel with one lane operating in each direction. The construction of a second road tunnel has been debated for some years and work on its construction is just getting underway.
Nearby but separate from the expressway tunnel is a railway tunnel which carries rail traffic on the north-south line in Switzerland. A second rail tunnel, 57 km [35 mi] long and the world's longest was opened in 2016 and it also carries trains travelling from northern Switzerland to the Ticino region and beyond.