Axenstrasse

The Axenstrasse is an 11.4km two-lane middle section with ongoing traffic between the A4 motorway and the A2 motorway, and part of European route E41 between the resort of Brunnen in the canton of Schwyz to the village of Flüelen in the canton of Uri in Central Switzerland. The road is built along steep cliffs on the east side of the Urnersee (first part of the Lake Lucerne) weaving through many rock fall galleries and tunnels along its route. Upon completion in 1865, the Axenstrasse was the first way to get to Uri that did not involve navigating Lake Lucerne.HistoryThe engineer, Landamman of Uri, and Federal Councillor of State Karl Emanuel Müller initiated the first road for horse-drawn carriages. Construction on a new road to connect Flüelen to Brunnen began in 1861, and was completed in 1865. The name of the Axenstrasse refers to one particular part of the mountains the Axenstrasse circumvents and traverses, the 600m high, vertical rock between Flüelen and Sisikon, actually a farmed meadow terrace right below the much higher Rophaien .The route, especially in the part south of Sisikon, involves many open passages with rock galleries and numerous openings in the west tunnel walls viewing Urnersee as a result of the tunnel blasting through the calcareous rock. The road costs were 842,000 francs in 1865, half of which was paid for by the federal government of Switzerland.