Transportation

Sunseeking Germans Face Swiss Backlash Over Alpine Holiday Congestion

Traffic on the A2 motorway in front of the Gotthard tunnel between Goeschenen and Erstfeld.Photographer: Urs Flueeler/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Switzerland’s tolerance for foreign drivers clogging up its highways is wearing so thin that some politicians now want to make them pay extra for the privilege.

An ever-bigger deluge of mostly German and Dutch motorists heading south every summer toward the Mediterranean sun has turned tranquil Alpine valleys into congested 24-hour thoroughfares, inciting local fury and calls for action.