Status of the northern feeder route to the Brenner Base Tunnel 27/12/24
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Brenner as a bottleneck: in 2025 often only one lane will be passable
Even before the general renovation work begins, the Lueg Bridge will no longer be fully accessible for safety reasons. The project could be a test of patience for truck drivers.
December 27, 2024 | by DVZ editorial team
The Brenner motorway in Austria is becoming a bottleneck. From January 1st, traffic over the 1.8-kilometer-long Lueg Bridge will often only be able to travel in one lane for safety reasons.
The more than 50-year-old structure near Gries am Brenner can no longer withstand the full load of traffic, announced motorway operator Asfinag. The general renovation of the bridge will begin in March and will last until the end of 2030. The cost of the work is estimated at just under 390 million euros.
On 180 days, exceptionally, two lanes
In order to keep traffic flowing as often as possible on this section, it will be two-lane on 180 precisely defined days in 2025 - as can be read in a special travel calendar. To do this, heavy traffic will have to be diverted to the middle of the road, which is a complex process.
"Under no circumstances will a truck be allowed to travel in the right-hand lane as is usual," explains Asfinag spokesman Alexander Holzedl. For this procedure, the vehicles will be reorganized accordingly on a total stretch of 8 kilometers.
lack of alternative routes
Anyone who wants to use the Brenner Pass between Italy and Austria cannot simply use side roads. These are either closed to transit traffic or - as in the case of the parallel federal highway - are not particularly attractive due to additional traffic lights.
The logistics sector is particularly alarmed. "We have to expect traffic jams that are miles long on a bridge over which 2.5 million trucks drive every year," says Stephan Jarmer, traffic officer at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Upper Franconia in Bayreuth.
The uncertainty about delivery times is forcing companies to move away from "just-in-time" deliveries and to use storage space, which could lead to higher prices and delivery bottlenecks, it was recently said at a Chamber of Industry and Commerce conference. On top of that, there is now a total of 36 days of driving ban for truck traffic in Tyrol heading south and 21 days heading north.
restrictions until the end of 2027
According to Asfinag, around 32,000 vehicles travel on the Brenner motorway section every day. From the end of 2027, when essential elements of the renovation have been completed, traffic should generally be two-lane again. According to Asfinag, the fact that the renovation of the bridge could not begin earlier is due to objections from a municipality.
After the Lueg Bridge, the 190-meter-high Europa Bridge, which was the highest bridge in Europe when it was completed in 1963, still needs to be renovated on the Brenner route. Construction work is scheduled to begin in 2040. (dpa/ab)