Agglomeration Rivelac

The Rivelac agglomeration (Montreux, Vevey, Villeneuve, Châtel-St-Denis) comprises 18 municipalities spread across two cantons. Its location at the intersection of Lake Geneva and the Pre-Alps makes the agglomeration one of the most spectacular urban regions in Switzerland in terms of landscape. Unlike most urban regions, leisure and tourism play a significant role in urban and transport development.

The agglomeration programme was developed in an iterative process involving all project participants. A central theme is the preservation of the landscape and the densification of the existing settlement area. Development is concentrated exclusively in well-connected, central locations. The main element is the ‘Boulevard urbain’ along the lake shore, a prestigious 16 km long main road with the longest trolleybus line in Switzerland. The basic idea is the targeted densification and upgrading of this central axis. This simple idea creates synergies: densification, upgrading, promotion and optimisation of sustainable mobility are efficiently combined in a single measure. Other key elements include the further development of station areas into new centres and the connection of the lower and upper parts of the agglomeration with new bus corridors, cycle routes and mountain railway lines.