Photos and Stories behind them: In the Motorway Tunnel

We were on a trip to a place called Biel, which is about 20-25 minutes from the town of Solothurn, our local town. I am not a motorway person. Actually I only drive if I have to, although I am not too bad at it. I just was not born with motor oil in my veins, prefer the unspoiled open air.

So we departed. The special thing about this was that at the time this was one of the last stretches of speedy Gonzales road to be completed in Switzerland. It is a small country, and so care is necessary to ensure that you are not living in a country of roads with a few houses in between. It was my first trip on this new motorway. There were tunnels and bridges. Everything new and shiny. There were shields showing when you were leaving a particular Kanton (State) and entering a new one. As our journey was a short one, beginning in the Kanton of Solothurn and finishing in the Kanton of Bern, there was no big deal.

Mr. Swiss was driving and I was the photographer. It was all so new and exciting I suppose. It was a nice motorway, considering what it must have cost. There was a lot of tunnels built as otherwise a few hundred cows would have been crossing now and again and the cows decided they were not moving for a motorway. They built a nice new bridge near the town of Grenchen, which was about half way on the journey. A sort of lookalike golden gate Bridge, but without San Franciso and the water flowing below. Anyhow a memorable photo  as you cross the State line to the Kanton of Bern.

An Afternoon out - Ein Nachmittag Ausflug

Today was such a nice day, a bit of a cold wind but otherwise sunshine all day. In the near by town of Biel there is a reptile exhibition and I decided it would be worth a visit. Biel is about 25 kilometers away and used to be a half hours drive. Since the new motorway has been built it only takes twenty minutes if the going is good. Generally we have got very lazy in our older years, taking it easy at week-end. It is so nice to read a book, the newspaper and go for a walk locally. I work during the week (Mr. Swiss - retired, lucky man) so I only have the opportunity to go anyway at the week-end. We spent the morning as usual - at least the cats did.

Deutsch: Heute war schön, ein wenig kalt aber sonst Sonne die ganze Tag. In der Nähe in Stadt Biel war ein Reptilien Ausstellung und ich enschied es war ein Besuch wert. Biel is ungefähr 25 Kilometer weit weg und war früher ein halb Stund zu fahren. Seit die neue Autobahn existiert es braucht nur etwa 20 Minuten wenn keine Verkehr. In Allgemein sind wir etwas faul geworden in unserem Älter, und am Wochenend besonders. Es ist schön ein Buch zu lese, die Zeitung durchzublättern oder ein Spaziergang zu machen. Ich arbeitete durch die Woche (Herr Schweizer in der Ruhestand - glücklicher Man) so ich habe die Gelegenheit nur am Wochenende etwas zu unternehmen. Wir verbrachte die Morgen wie immer - d.H. die Katze.

They asked politely if they could go out and enjoy the sunshine after a mad ten minutes at home chasing each other all over the place and we decided for the sake of peace they could wear theirselves out outside.

Deutsch: Sie fragten höfflich, ob sie draussen spielen könnte und die Sonne geniessen nachdem sie haben ein verruckte Zehnminuten verbracht, wo sie einander durch die Wohnung gejagt haben. Wir entschieden das es ruhiger wäre, wenn sie draussen gingen.

I told Mr. Swiss I wouldn't mind going to Biel in the afternoon and he found it was a good idea and we would go by car. If I had gone on my own, I would have taken the train and I don't like driving long distances on roads I don't know. The motorway to Biel had only been finished just a bit more than a year ago, and I didn't even know where it started in Solothurn. It was quite a complex thing to build, and three new bridges had to be constructed for the connecting roads to the villages and towns. It also meant that a by pass road had to be made around the town of Solothurn, meaning that our building site was the second biggest to the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin when they were constructing the new capital city of Germany after the reunification.

Deutsch: Ich sagte Herr Schweizer ich würde gern nach Biel gehen am Nachmittag und er fand es wäre ein gute Idee und wir würden fahren mit dem Auto. Wenn ich alleine ging, hätte ich dem Zug genommen, weil ich nicht gern lange Distanz fahren auf die Strassen, die ich nicht kenne. Der Autobahn nach Biel war nur fertig geworden seit etwa mehr als ein Jahr und ich wusste nichteinmal, wo es in Solothurn anfing. Es war siemlich ein komplexe Sache zu bauen und drei Brücken müssten gebaut werden für die Zubringerstrassen von Dörfer und Städte. Ein Umfahrung musste auch gebaut worden um Solothurn herum. Ein Zeit lang war Stadt Solothurn die zweit grösste Bauplatz in Europe, die am Potsdamer Platz Berlin die grösste.

This is one of the new bridges over the River Aare near the small town of Grenchen, half way between Solothurn and Biel. They also had to make a few tunnels as the new motorway went through a lot of farm land where there were a lot of wild animals, deers, rabbits etc. and the farmers were not to happy about having a smelly motorway running parallel to the fields. Of course all this tunnelling made everything more expensive, but we are in Switzerland where we all pay income tax to cover the costs.

Deutsch: Hier ist eine von die neue Brücken über die Fluss Aare in der Nähe von die kleine Stadt Grenchen, halbwegs zwischen Solothurn und Biel. Ein paar Tunnel musste man auch bauen. Die Autobah ging durch viele Landwirtschaftliche Betriebe, wo es wilde Tiere wie Reh, Hasen usw. hat und die Bauern war nicht so glücklich eine stinkende Autobahn zu haben parallel zu den Felden. Natürlich diese Tunnels machte alles etwas teuer, aber wie sind in der Schweiz wo wir alle Steuer bezahlen für die Kosten zu decken.

The tunnels are quite long, but well built and wide enough. We were lucky today as there was not a lot of traffic.

Deutsch: Die Tunnel sind lang, aber gut gebaut und breit genug. Wir hätten heute Glück, weil es hat nicht so viel Verkehr.

Eventually we came off the motorway and arrive at the entrance to the town of Biel. On the right you can see the continuation of part of the motorway which goes into the Jura mountains leading to the French speaking part of Switzerland, connecting to the town of Délémont amongst others. My chauffeur drove quite well and I took all the photos from the car, so you might see a bit of window in the photos.

Deutsch: Endlich kamen ab von die Autobahn und an die Eingang zu Stadt Biel. Auf die rechte Seize sieht man die Autobahn, welche in die Jura Berge fuhrt zu der franzözisch sprechende Teil von der Schweiz, gegen Stadt Délémont unter anderem. Meine chauffeur fährte ziemlich gut und ich habe die Fotos augenommen von die Auto, so es kann sein, das ein Teil von Autofenster ist auf die Fotos.

A full photo report can be found either on Flickr or on Multiply
Ein volle Fotoreportage findet man auf Flickr oder Multiply