Key European highway reopens after Austrian protesters lift blockade

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - VIENNA — Thousands of Austrians protesting against noise and pollution caused by excessive congestion blocked a key European highway linking Germany and Italy on Saturday, but widely feared traffic chaos was averted after the closure was lifted by evening.

Because of the protest, authorities closed part of the highway and surrounding roads to transit traffic from 11:00 am (0900 GMT) to 7:00 pm.

Authorities and motoring organizations had feared traffic chaos due to the closure and the Whitsun holidays in Germany.

“All lanes are open again,” a spokesman for the motorway operator Asfinag said on Saturday evening.

Heading north, the Italian section between Sterzing and Brenner was also reopened to light traffic. The reopening to lorries was scheduled for 8 pm (1800 GMT).

Communities in Austria’s western Tyrol province have long complained about the traffic, especially trucks. The protesters at Matrei am Brenner called for an end to pollution, noise and traffic jams they say are plaguing local communities.

“There’s so much freight traffic, and this is the main transit route from the north, from Germany to Italy, and far too little of it is being shifted onto rail,” said 71-year-old Senn Burkhard.

“There are more and more of them. The roads can’t cope any more, and the people can’t cope any more either,” added Klaus Rott Hauptmann, 64, an industrial mechanic.

Protest organizer Karl Muehlsteiger said 5,000 people took part in the demonstration, while the fire service put the number at 4,500, according to the APA news agency.

Muehlsteiger, the mayor of Gries am Brenner, told AFP the event had been “hugely successful.”

“This is a very, very clear signal to the top political level — they can no longer play it down or ignore it, and now it’s up to those at the top to comply and start working on our demands,” he said.

Austria’s motoring club OeAMTC had warned earlier of “extensive traffic jams” and advised drivers to avoid Tyrol. But it said the feared gridlock did not materialize.

“The disaster didn’t happen because we announced it in advance,” the organization’s Harald Lasser told AFP.

The German motorists’ association ADAC also said there were no significant disruptions on the German side.

However, Italian train operator Trenitalia reported massive disruption to rail traffic on the Brenner to Verona line during the protest due to a “malicious act by unknown persons.”

The Austrian motoring organization ÖAMTC expects, however, that travellers will set off on their postponed journeys from Saturday evening. Heavy traffic is expected on Sunday in particular.

The authorities in Tyrol gave a positive preliminary assessment of the day of demonstrations and blockades. According to the police, a total of 219 lorries were turned back at the closed transit route.

Lorry traffic through the Alpine Brenner Pass has increased to the point that more than 2.4 million vehicles used it last year, according to mobility organization VCOe.

This compares to 860,000 trucks passing through neighboring Switzerland via four transit routes, VCOe added.

In 1991, only 900,000 lorries used the Brenner Pass, according to road statistics.

Austria has long battled the European Commission, which has said any ban on heavy goods lorries risks disrupting European Union road traffic.

In 2023, the EU’s top court suspended an Austrian order banning heavy goods lorries from a stretch of the highway.