As a result of building, agricultural land is disappearing. How much surface area do motorways occupy in Switzerland? The response in graphics less than two weeks before the vote on the widening of six sections.
The concreteization of Switzerland progresses every year. The motorway extensions, up for vote on November 24, will destroy new arable land. This is one of the arguments of opponents of the Federal Council’s project.
How much of the concrete is due to highways? To see more clearly, the RTS immersed itself in data on the area of Switzerland.
Transport infrastructure covers nearly 100,000 hectares in Switzerland, according to the latest available figures. This represents 3% of the usable land, that is to say without unproductive areas such as lakes, glaciers and uninhabitable regions. For comparison, buildings occupy almost twice as much space: 5.4% of the territory.
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And the highways? These cover around 7,000 hectares in Switzerland, or 7% of the land used by transport.
Roads use ten times more surface area. Rail remains at a level closer to that of motorways, covering 9,500 hectares.
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Increasingly greedy buildings
As most of the motorway network has already been built, it has grown relatively little in recent years: less than 300 hectares between 2009 and 2018 (+4%), while 30,000 hectares of agricultural land have disappeared in the same period. time.
This is much less than roads (+2000 ha) and, above all, than buildings. The latter swallowed up 13,000 hectares over the same period (+8%), or 45 times more surface area than motorways.
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Peasants divided
The six projects under vote, which seek to streamline traffic, require 53 hectares, including 8 hectares of very fertile cropland. A measured and necessary evil for the Federal Council, which is committed to compensating the farmers concerned with the revaluation of other areas.
These figures seem low compared to the 2000 hectares concreted each year in Switzerland. But the question divides the agricultural world.
The Swiss Peasants’ Union and Prométerre have spoken out in favor of the motorways. They support the decongestion of secondary roads and the development of the road network.
Other peasant associations, such as AgriGenève and Uniterre, are fighting the projects, refusing any further loss of cultivable area. For Uniterre, “it is essential to oppose the continued erosion of these lands, because every hectare counts”.
>> The presentation of the vote with the arguments of both camps: Should the Swiss motorway network be expanded? The population will decide
>> The Infrarouge debate:
Valentine Fall
