Traffic backed up to Arth for six hours

A serious traffic accident on the A4 north of Rotkreuz had a direct impact on rush hour traffic in the region on late Monday afternoon. Traffic on the motorway was practically at a standstill for six hours before the Küssnacht exit.

A serious traffic accident occurred on the northbound carriageway of the A4 motorway between the Rotkreuz and Cham interchange shortly after 4 pm on Monday evening. A car and a lorry are believed to have been involved in the accident that took place in the area of the construction zone.

The rush hour traffic came to a complete halt, with northbound traffic having to exit the motorway at Küssnacht am Rigi. Officers from the Schwyz Cantonal Police had to direct the traffic at the Küssnacht exit.

Webcam footage from Rigi Scheidegg showed a long traffic jam stretching back to Arth at 7:30 pm, three and a half hours after the accident. "Significant delays are to be expected," reported the traffic services. At the same time, webcam footage also shows that the motorists had formed an exemplary emergency lane (Rettungsgasse).

The traffic jams persisted along Lake Zug until 9 pm, before the situation gradually eased.

The long line of cars on the motorway between Goldau and Küssnacht near Arth at around 7:30 pm
Photo: Screenshot from the Rigi Scheidegg webcam.
Traffic came to a standstill in many places in the area around Rotkreuz on Monday evening.
Photo: Screenshot from Google Maps
 

"It took me over an hour to get from Rotkreuz to Zurich, I had to drive via Gisikon – Sins - Maschwanden - Mettmenstetten, and it took over 40 minutes just to get to Sins, even though it was practically in the opposite direction," one reader told the Zuger Zeitung newspaper. "At 5 pm, it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to get from Röhrliberg in Cham to Meierskappel," wrote another reader.

Late on Monday evening, the Zug Police reported that the affected section of the A4 motorway was open again, and the last traffic jams gradually cleared.

The Zug Police were deployed in force, as was the Zug fire brigade. The Küssnacht ambulance service was also called in to assist.