Heavy travel traffic

The May holidays bring traffic jams to Salzburg

There are always traffic jams on the A10 before and after the Lueg Pass due to the tunnel construction site near Golling.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

From Labor Day to Corpus Christi, May is full of public holidays. On Salzburg's roads, especially on the Tauernautobahn (A10), things are getting tight again. The first avalanches of traffic have already passed through.

Friday was a harbinger of what is soon to come again: The block clearance in front of the tunnel construction site near Golling in the direction of Villach was active. Once again, nothing worked on the Tauernautobahn. Drivers diverted to the main roads and clogged up the neighboring communities. Yesterday, Saturday, there were only occasional delays and traffic jams in the morning.

Holidays could turn into traffic jam days on the A10
The A10 is and remains the most popular transit route through Salzburg and further south. This year, many holidaymakers are starting their journey to the Adriatic earlier than usual. Whether on May 1st, Ascension Day (May 9th), the extended Whitsun weekend (May 17th to 20th) or Corpus Christi (May 30th). The time before or after the public holidays will, for better or worse, become a traffic jam peak period.

In the neighboring communities, there are mixed feelings about the coming wave of travelers. The A10 exit closures have been history since the end of April, but they will be back at Whitsun. Affected residents of the Tennengau communities fear that the closures will once again be rather toothless and there will be hardly any controls. The head of Golling, Martin Dietrich (SPÖ), takes a different view. "We are happy that we will have the lockdowns back from 17 May," says the mayor. "They are the reason we are surviving at all. We'll just have to come up with something for the side roads again."

The Glocknerstraße will serve as an alternative for vacation traffic to the south.

(Bild: EXPA/ JFK)

The idea of directing tourist traffic to the south and back via the Glockner High Alpine Road is likely to end up in the dustbin - as reported by the "Krone" newspaper. According to reports, the state is already having doubts about Grohag AG's idea. Explosive: the state is a co-owner of the public limited company.