National Highway System (Switzerland)

Switzerland has a two-class highway system: motorways with separated roads for oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), and expressways often with oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph).

Autobahnen in German, autoroutes in French, autostrade in Italian, autostradas in Romansch are the local names of the national motorways of Switzerland. Two of the most important freeways are the A1, running from St. Margrethen in northeastern Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen through to Geneva in southwestern Switzerland, and the A2, running from Basel in northwestern Switzerland to Chiasso in southern Switzerland's canton of Ticino, on the border with Italy.

Autostrassen in German, semi-autoroutes in French, semiautostrade in Italian, autovias in Romansch are the local names of the national expressways.

Motorways and expressways are restricted to motorized vehicles that can obtain a speed of at least 80 km/h (50 mph) (VRV/ORC/ONC Art. 35 1).

For the usage of any motorways or expressways the purchase of a motorway sticker ("vignette") to be put on the car's windshield is mandatory.

A short stretch of autobahn around the Lucerne area in 1955 created Switzerland's first autobahn. For Expo 1964, an autoroute was built between Lausanne and Geneva. The Bern-Lenzburg autobahn was inaugurated in 1967.

The Swiss autobahn/autoroute network has a total length (as of April 2012) of 1,763.6 kilometres (1,095.9 mi), of the planned 1,893.5 kilometres (1,176.6 mi), and has, by an area of 41,290 km², also one of the highest motorway densities in the world with many tunnels. There are 200 tunnels with a total length of 220 kilometres (140 mi).

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