A2 motorway (Switzerland)

The A2 (the Gotthard Motorway) is a motorway in Switzerland. It forms Switzerland's main north–south axis from Basel to Chiasso, meandering with a slight drift toward the east. It lies on the Gotthard axis and crosses the Alps.

A2
Location of the A2 within Switzerland
Route information
Part of E 35
Major junctions
North end	A5 at German border
	A1 A8 A13 A14
South end	A9 at Italian border
Highway system
Highways in Switzerland Motorways of Switzerland

The A2 motorway in Ticino, suspended over viaducts

The A2 motorway leaves Basel heading south toward Olten, Sursee, Luzern, Stans, Altdorf, Erstfeld, Göschenen, Airolo, Biasca, Bellinzona, Lugano and reaches Chiasso.

It intersects with the A1, A8, A13 and A14 motorways.

The St. Gotthard Tunnel lies at the heart of the motorway and makes up its culminating point. With a maximum elevation of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft)[1] at the tunnel's highest point, the A2 motorway has the lowest maximum elevation of any direct north–south road through the Alps. Traffic jams stretching for kilometres on end are frequently found on both entrances of the tunnel, but more frequently on the northern flank. The difficulty with driving through the St. Gotthard tunnel is that it is a motorway tunnel with one lane per direction, but without a central reservation. So far, plans for a second Gotthard tunnel have been rejected or otherwise failed to come to fruition.

Near Lucerne, this motorway passes through the Sonnenberg Tunnel, which until recently was the world's largest nuclear blast shelter.

This is one of the busiest motorways in Switzerland.