Why do Swiss road border crossings differ in setup?

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I can answer regarding some other European borders, history and available building space.

Once upon a time, a normal border crossing would consist of two checkpoints, each on their side of the border, with a barrier pole in between. Each nation did their own thing. With increasingly good relations in Europe, checkpoints got rebuild as a single building on the border, with offices for both sides and no pole.

Of course that would require a rebuilding of the checkpoints, and an agreement to let armed agents of a foreign government to enter a sovereign nation. There is still no universal agreement in this regard, just a mixture of binational agreements.

For instance, in the 70s a motorist would stop at the border between Germany and the Netherlands. The driver would hand the passports through the window. Often the border guards would merely count the passports and the passengers and then return the papers. They had the option to check them, of course.

In the 80s a motorist would slow to a walking pace and press the passports to the closed car window. The border guards would either wave the car on or signal to stop.

In the 90s the checkpoints were gone from many borders that were both EU and Schengen internal. The buildings got demolished, the real estate sold. So for a temporary spot check, it had to be set up at the last highway exit before the border -- it could be several km from the actual border. There was a time when customs and police could cross borders in hot pursuit, but not to get to their workplace, which made things even messier.

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