What's it like to be stuck in peak holiday traffic trying to cross the Alps

Traffic jams in front of the Gotthard tunnel are the bane of holidaymakers heading South on vacation. Political parties across the spectrum are calling for a tunnel toll. But how bad is the situation really in traffic-congested Switzerland? Figures, facts—and what drivers can do to stay safe and sane. A river of brake lights confronts us like a red wall. Between the motorway entrances of Wassen and Göschenen, our hopes for a smooth passage are dashed. This is the normal situation on the Gotthard route and no longer just during the holiday season. The 17 km road tunnel - the longest in the world at the time of its construction in 1980 - runs from Göschenen in the canton of Uri in the north to Airolo in canton Ticino to the south. We come to a standstill. Everything slows down, only our pulse quickens. We're stuck in a traffic jam. On more than 100 days a year, traffic is backed up at the bottleneck between northern and southern Switzerland, where cars are squeezed into a single ...