Second Gotthard tube: over three thousand visitors tour Airolo site

Traffic through the Gotthard today runs through a single motorway tunnel, used in both directions. In Airolo, work continues on a second tube, which will run alongside the existing one. The construction site opened its doors to the public on a dedicated visitor day, and more than three thousand people toured the ongoing works. The new tube is expected to open to traffic in 2030.

"Per noi è una grande soddisfazione, perché riusciamo a spiegare alla gente che cosa significa questo progetto" ("For us this is a great satisfaction, because we manage to explain to people what this project means"), Udo Oppliger, overall project manager at the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO), told Il Quotidiano.

Excavation of the new tube, almost 17 kilometres long, is being carried out with two boring machines weighing more than 2,000 tonnes each. On the Ticino side, the site has run into significant geological difficulties: the boring machine Paulina was halted for almost a year after around 2,000 cubic metres of rock collapsed along the route.

2030 remains the target

Despite the delay, 2030 is still considered a realistic date. Oppliger explained that it is not the boring machine's progress that determines the opening date of the second tube, but the completion of other underground works, such as ventilation plants. The tunnel's final breakthrough, meanwhile, is expected to happen next year.

On the southern side, the site is advancing at a variable pace, between 7 and 25 metres a day, depending on the geological conditions encountered along the route. About 300 people work on site, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Once completed, the new tube will make it possible to separate the two directions of traffic inside the tunnel, increasing safety for those using it. The second tube will also reduce the need to fully close the Gotthard in the event of an accident.