Could the Gotthard tuel project help revive a Swiss village?

Around 170 workers are being drafted in to the central Swiss village of Göschenen to build the new Gotthard road tuel, but there's controversy over where they should stay. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

The Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) wants to build a container village to house them, but many locals would prefer to see old hotels renovated, thus breathing new life into the village in canton Uri that has seen better days. Just under 450 people live here, compared to 1,300, 50 years ago.

In 2016, voters backed the plan to build the second road tuel through the central Swiss Alps, one of Europe’s main north-south links for cars, buses and trucks. The tuel will end in Airolo in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino. Construction will begin in 2020. The 2.8-billion-franc ($2.9 billion) project foresees the building of a second tube to allow the renovation of the existing tuel, built in 1980. After the second tube is completed in around 2030, the parallel tubes are projected to each carry only one lane of traffic in each direction.