This is a list of the highest paved roads in Switzerland. It includes paved roads in the Alps that are over 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long and whose culminating point is over 1,850 metres (6,070 feet) above sea level. This height approximately corresponds to that of the highest major settlements in the country.[1] Some of the listed roads are closed to motorised vehicles, although they are normally all accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. These mountain roads are popular with drivers, bikers and cyclists for their spectacular scenery and are often the highlights of bicycle races such as Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie. Many of them are also served by public transport, the main transport company being PostBus Switzerland.
As the tree line lies at approximately 2,000 metres in the Alps, almost all the upper sections of the listed roads are in the alpine zone, where the main form of precipitation becomes snow. Most of these roads are closed in winter, although important road links such as the Simplon remain open through the year.
Switzerland has a dense network of roads and railways. The Swiss public transport network has a total length of 24,500 kilometres and has more than 2600 stations and stops.
This article lists the principal mountain passes and tunnels in the Alps, and gives a history of transport across the Alps.
The Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland runs from Göschenen in the canton of Uri at its northern portal, to Airolo in Ticino to the south, and is 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) in length below the St Gotthard Pass, a major pass of the Alps. At time of construction, in 1980, it was the longest road tunnel in the world; it is currently the fifth-longest. Although it is a motorway tunnel, part of the A2 from Basel to Chiasso, it consists of only one bidirectional tube with two lanes. With a maximum elevation of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft) at the tunnel's highest point, the A2 motorway has the lowest maximum elevation of any direct north-south road through the Alps.
The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass at 2,106 m (6,909 ft) is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and Andermatt in the German-speaking canton of Uri, and connects further Bellinzona and Lugano to Lucerne, Basel, and Zürich. The Gotthard Pass lies at the heart of the Gotthard, a major transport axis of Europe, and it is crossed by three traffic tunnels, each being the world's longest at the time of their construction: the Gotthard Rail Tunnel (1882), the Gotthard Road Tunnel (1980) and the Gotthard Base Tunnel (2016). With the Lötschberg to the west, the Gotthard is one of the two main north-south routes through the Swiss Alps.
Furka Pass is a 2,429 m (7,969 ft) high mountain pass in the southern Swiss Alps connecting Gletsch, Valais with Realp, Uri via the seasonal Furkapassroute. The Furka Oberalp Bahn bypasses the pass through the 1,390 m (4,560 ft) high Furka Base Tunnel, which opened in 1982 to replace the seasonal Furka Summit Tunnel tunnel at 2,160 metres (7,090 ft).
Oberalp Pass is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting the cantons of Graubünden and Uri between Disentis/Mustér and Andermatt.
San Bernardino Pass is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting the Hinterrhein and the Mesolcina (Misox) valleys between Thusis and Bellinzona. Located in the far eastern side of the Western Alps it is not to be confused with the Great St Bernard Pass and the Little St Bernard Pass. The top of the pass represents both the Italo-German language frontier and the watershed between the Po basin and the Rhine basin. Marscholsee is within the pass at an elevation of 2,053 m (6,736 ft).
Vue des Alpes is a high mountain pass in the Jura Mountains in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
The Loibl Pass or Ljubelj Pass is a high mountain pass in the Karawanks chain of the Southern Limestone Alps, linking Austria with Slovenia. The Loibl Pass road is the shortest connection between the Carinthian town of Ferlach and Tržič in Upper Carniola and part of the European route E652 from Klagenfurt to Naklo.
Col de la Forclaz is a mountain pass in the Alps in the Canton of Valais in Switzerland. It connects Martigny at 471 m (1,545 ft) and Le Châtelard (Finhaut). The road from Martigny to the Col has an average gradient of 6% but in parts is closer to 8%. After the Col, and Le Châtelard, the road leads to Chamonix in France via Vallorcine and the Col des Montets.
Col des Montets is a mountain pass in the French Alps in the Haute-Savoie department of France. It is on the road between Chamonix, the Swiss Col de la Forclaz and Martigny in the canton of Valais, Switzerland.
The Stelvio Pass is a mountain pass in northern Italy bordering Switzerland at an elevation of 2,757 m (9,045 ft) above sea level. It is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, 7 m (23 ft) below France's Col de l'Iseran.
The evolution of motorways construction in European Union member states by total number of kilometres existing in that year. This is a list of the total number of Motorways by country, member of the European Union. It includes motorways, classified as such by the Eurostat.
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