Lausanne, the flat way: routes that avoid the hills

Lausanne rises from 372 m at the lakeshore to over 850 m in the north. Yet between its neighbourhoods there are almost level streets. Over the 600 trips between the 25 neighbourhoods and communes studied, the route that climbs least is on average only 8% longer than the shortest and avoids 23% of the climbing.

The flat corridors

These chains of streets carry the most flat trips between neighbourhoods. Mean gradient and length are measured along each street's profile.

1. 1Rue des Terreaux - Place Chauderon - Place du Tunnel - Rue William-Haldimand — 2.7 km, mean gradient 1.7%
2. 2Rue de Genève - Avenue de Morges - Chemin du Martinet — 2.2 km, mean gradient 2.2%
3. 3Rue de Lausanne - Rue de la Paix - Avenue du 24-Janvier - Route des Flumeaux — 1.5 km, mean gradient 2.0%
4. 4Route de la Maladière - Route de Chavannes - Avenue du Léman — 1.5 km, mean gradient 0.8%
5. 5Route de Chavannes — 1.0 km, mean gradient 1.0%
6. 6Rue Dr-César-Roux - Rue de l'Industrie - Placette du Tunnel - Tunnel de la Barre — 0.7 km, mean gradient 2.5%
7. 7Route de Prilly - Route de Cossonay - Avenue d'Echallens — 0.9 km, mean gradient 2.1%
8. 8Avenue de Béthusy - Chemin du Moléson — 0.8 km, mean gradient 0.9%

Trips where the detour pays off most

On these trips the flattest route saves the most climbing compared with the shortest one.

1. 1Chavannes-près-Renens → Paudex: 76 m less climbing for 1.0 km more walking
2. 2Pully → Montoie/Bourdonnette: 74 m less climbing for 1.3 km more walking
3. 3Prilly → Pully: 71 m less climbing for 211 m more walking
4. 4Chavannes-près-Renens → Pully: 70 m less climbing for 1.6 km more walking
5. 5Paudex → Ecublens: 69 m less climbing for 1.0 km more walking
6. 6Renens → Pully: 69 m less climbing for 237 m more walking
7. 7Sébeillon/Malley → Pully: 68 m less climbing for 177 m more walking
8. 8Montoie/Bourdonnette → Paudex: 64 m less climbing for 673 m more walking