Swiss upgrade safety in road tunnels
The Federal Roads Office has launched a programme costing SFr1.2 billion ($1 billion) to improve safety in tunnels on the national road network.
The office said on Thursday that 126 of the 220 tunnels did not conform or only partially conformed to the latest safety norms.
However, it added that Swiss tunnels were among the safest in the world.
Efforts to improve road tunnel safety have been made throughout Europe since fatal accidents in 1999 and 2001 in the Mont Blanc tunnel linking France and Italy, the Tauern in Austria and the Gotthard in Switzerland.
The Swiss will be making additional improvements to ventilation systems, emergency exits, signals and energy supply.
A statement said much of the work would be carried out between 2011 and 2016.
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