Walchwil,13.12.2018

Panorama path gets the green light

Initial ideas for a Panorama path in Walchwil were mooted in 2006, with locals showing great interest. On Wednesday evening they voted in favour of the path, though only by five votes.

Indeed, the matter was hotly debated, with one resident, Vitus Hürlimann, saying it was unnecessary. “There are around ten paths leading off from here in the direction of Zug; yet, if you want to walk to Arth, you have to risk your life walking on the cantonal road,” he said, and urged the money allocated to the Panorama path, some CHF 2 million, to be spent there instead.

When complete, the Panorama path will be a new way of linking-up all the different areas of the municipality in the area of the railway line.

It is intended for pedestrians, will be of varying width but never less than one metre, with no steps at all.  School children of the Hörndli area will be able to make their way to and from the centre of the municipality without having to worry about traffic.

The first stage of the path is to lead from the Hörndli S-Bahn stop and pass through the subway alongside the railway tracks, passing by the Chlimattli development and planned Löffler one as far as the Büel tunnel, then continuing upwards via Büelweg, linking up with the Büel area itself, this first stage ending at Zugerstrasse, the next stage going on to the village centre.

What is good is that while work proceeds on the railway lines, with no trains running, no additional costly safety measures will need to be implemented during construction. Great care will also be taken to provide appropriate habitat for local flora and fauna, too, with dry stone walls being built in sections, for example.

What had previously annoyed the SP party about this project was that if felt the related illustrations were not very good, and misleading. What annoyed members of the SVP party was that it was not yet clear where the path would actually end, and when it would be completed.