Abstract :
One of the major obstacles to efficient vehicle movement between Northern Europe (Scandinavia, U.K., Germany, France) and the South (Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece and the Middle East) is a natural one - The Alps. Although freeway networks exist on both sides of the Alps, to drive from one side to the other may require either very long detours or the use of narrow mountain roads which are impassible in winter. In Switzerland, the road N2, which links Basle in the north with Chiasso in the south will gradually be up-graded to become a freeway. Amongst other civil engineering works, this necessitates constructing several long alpine tunnels to freeway specifications. Since it is financially impossible to provide emergency lanes or escape roads within such tunnels, an incident involving traffic in these high-speed high-density routes has high disaster potential.
