Historical traffic routes

Over the centuries, the area that is now the Binntal Nature Park has played an important role as a transit region.

Romans and Walser, hunters, soldiers, smugglers, partisans and merchants chose the Albrun Pass as a crossing point over the Alps. Over forty graves as well as scattered and settlement finds in the Binntal valley bear witness to the prominent position of this pass in the early Iron Age and in the first centuries after Christ.

Historic bridges

Two bridges from the 16th century are still reminders of the importance of the so-called Heerstrasse or Roman road from Grengiols: the Schärtbrücke bridge built around 1540 just before the Twingischlucht gorge and the elegant arched bridge in the hamlet of Schmidigehischere, built in 1564, are witnesses to lively transit traffic well beyond the late Middle Ages.

In the Federal Inventory of Historic Transport Routes in Switzerland (IVS), the military and Roman road leading from Grengiols to Binn is classified as being of national importance. The same applies to various sections of the route from Binn to the Albrun Pass.

Twingi Gorge bottleneck

In 1917, Binn requested a road for the first time to replace the carriage road built in 1863/64. It was not realized until 13 years after the request. With financial support from the neighboring municipalities, work on the road from Ernen to Binn began in 1930. The first two sections led from Ernen to Ausserbinn and from there to the "Twingystein" at the entrance to the Twingi Gorge. The continuation through the Twingi Gorge was completed by 1932. Work on the final section to the hamlet of Schmidigehischere was delayed until the spring of 1938, when the first Postbus drove through the Twingi to Binn.

The road through the Twingi gorge remained dangerous, especially in winter, and the village of Binn was often cut off from the outside world for weeks at a time. For this reason, the road was laid in the rock in 1964/65 and the entire stretch from Ernen to Binn was extended at the same time.

After the tunnel was built, the annual maintenance work on the Twingi road was discontinued. Avalanches, falling rocks, storms and landslides had taken their toll on the Twingi road, which was built in the 1930s. In summer 2010, the Binntal Landscape Park therefore began several years of work to renovate the old road. The road surface, surface drainage, tombinos (under-shafts), dry stone walls and railings have now been restored.

The Heerstrasse with the section through the Twingi Gorge and the Passweg over the Albrun are not the only paths in the Binntal Landscape Park that are listed in the Federal Inventory of Historic Transport Routes in Switzerland. Various stretches of road throughout the park have been given the same honor. Parts of the old mule track coming from Lax through Ernen and Mühlebach or the old road from Ernen to Ausserbinn via Binnegga and Wengi are also of national importance.

The external booking tool is not barrier-free