rest area | schwingeninswitzerland

Yes. That title, although said, is true. Let me explain.

While some highways and bridges in the US need of repair, our highway system is pretty extensive. For the most part, it’s cheap or free. Switzerland got a late start building their highway system. They haven’t even finished it yet. In typical Swiss fashion, it is extraordinarily engineered and well maintained. Their infrastructure is impressive; our visitors are always amazed by the tunnels. Some of it is also rigged to blow. Foreigners who drive through Switzerland complain about having to pay for vignettes, stickers that allow the vehicle to travel on Swiss highways. You purchase them at the border (or at the post office) for 40 CHF and they are good all year.

Not surprisingly, they do things a bit differently in France. Here are some of the main differences:

Highways in France require paying tolls. Lots of them. I can’t remember exactly how much we spent in tolls heading from Geneva to the south of France and back, but it was well over 100 Euro and probably more like 200 Euro. It was too painful to tabulate and made Switzerland’s 40 CHF vignette look like a bargain.

Highways in France are privatized. Therefore, if your car happened to break down on one, your auto service cannot come get you. Only certain specified highway-approved tow trucks are allowed to come get your car. I learned this little tidbit of information the hard way. In case you were wondering, you must always pay the toll when exiting the highway… even when your car exits on the back of a truck.

Rest areas in France are a little different than in North Carolina. They serve real food… and wine. I was busy worrying about my car and chatting with the police, the tow truck driver, etc., so I didn’t partake (not that I had to worry about driving in the near future). It looked pretty tasty.

Description unavailable (Photo credit: Alain Bachellier)

On some highways in France, they have wildlife overpasses (also known as wildlife crossings) for animals to cross the highway. A practice in habitat conservation, it connects habitats, countering fragmentation. They also help prevent animals from entering onto the highway, avoiding the resulting accidents. Below is a photo of one of them. Sorry I couldn’t take one, but I was busy driving. It’s handy to avoid the scene above…or worse.