Switzerland built giant tunnels under the Alps to reduce truck traffic, but the project is now helping protect the country's mountains from climate threats
EuropeClimateModerate confidence — 73/100
Most people picture Switzerland's mountain tunnels as an engineering flex, a way to shrink travel time between cities.
But the real story behind this vast underground network is less about convenience and more about climate.
Since the 1990s, Switzerland has been quietly pulling truck traffic off its fragile Alpine roads and pushing it underground onto rail lines instead, a decision Swiss voters actually made themselves through a public vote.
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Most people picture Switzerland's mountain tunnels as an engineering flex, a way to shrink travel time between cities.
But the real story behind this vast underground network is less about convenience and more about climate.
Since the 1990s, Switzerland has been quietly pulling truck traffic off its fragile Alpine roads and pushing it underground onto rail lines instead, a decision Swiss voters actually made themselves through a public vote.