The Melide

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

crosses across

Lake Lugano Lake Lugano ( or , from ; ) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first t ...

in the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts and its capital city is Bellinzo ...

, connecting the communities of Melide and

Bissone Bissone is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lugano (district), Lugano, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Bissone is first mentioned in 735 and again in 854 as ''Blixuni''. In G ...

, and provides the only domestic land connection between the southern section of Ticino, around

Mendrisio Mendrisio (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura di Mendris ...

and

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

, and the rest of Switzerland. Today the causeway carries the Gotthard railway, the A2 motorway, and a main road. A bridge within the causeway permits water flow and navigation between the two halves of Lake Lugano. The causeway makes use of a submerged

glacial moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice s ...

, which stretches across the lake reducing its depth to around , as opposed to the lake's maximum depth of . The causeway was designed by Pasquale Lucchini, a self-taught Ticinese

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, who arranged for large quantities of rock to be dumped on top of the moraine to create the causeway. The causeway was built between 1841 and 1847, and opened for road traffic in 1848. The railway was added to the causeway in 1872, and the motorway in 1980. A comparable causeway in Switzerland is the ''

Seedamm The Rapperswil Seedamm is the artificial causeway at the narrowest area of Lake Zurich between Hurden, Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two bridge segments and is approximately long. The Seedamm carries a road () and ...

'' across a narrow section at

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

References

External links

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{{coord, 45.951746, 8.954544, type:landmark_region:CH, display=title Buildings and structures in Ticino Causeways in Europe Lake Lugano Railway bridges in Switzerland Road bridges in Switzerland