Traffic jam on the A10

The Tennengau trembles before the next avalanche of traffic jams

There will be a lot of congestion again this weekend - on the highway and on the alternative routes

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Traffic jam alert! The first summer vacation has already begun in Germany. The Tennengau communities expect only minor improvements from tunnel openings. And: safety concerns are on the rise. .

Traffic jam, traffic jam, traffic jam! From Hallein to Golling, citizens and mayors are annoyed. The warmer it gets, the more massive the avalanche of traffic heading south. The first mega traffic jams - Whitsun, Easter, Corpus Christi - have literally frozen the communities. Everything came to a standstill on the main roads. The town centers were packed. The "Krone" reported regularly.

Now the big vacations are upon us. Five German federal states have already started. Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland will follow next week into the summer vacations. In Germany's most populous federal state - North Rhine-Westphalia - the vacations begin on July 8. The same as in western Austria. To summarize: Within two weeks, almost six million schoolchildren in Austria and Germany and their families will be rejoicing over the vacations.

Checks on the departures by Asfinag.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Worry lines among those affected and local leaders
Car traffic is on the rise. What this means is clear: massive congestion on the roads. The affected mayors Alexander Stangassinger (Hallein, SPÖ), Thomas Freylinger (Kuchl, ÖVP) and Martin Dietrich (Golling, SPÖ) expect "minimal improvement" from the opening of the tunnels on the A10, but remember that the municipalities already felt the massive impact of traffic diversions in the years before the current tunnel closures. Both lanes should be open again next week. The mayors agree that the safety of the population must have top priority. They demand that the ambulance service, fire department and emergency doctor get to the scene in good time. Provincial rescue commander Stefan Herbst: "We use the public transport lane for patient transports, there are only minor delays. We use the emergency lane on the highway for all emergency operations. In the event of traffic jams on the main roads, there have been no significant delays on the way to the scene so far."

However, the mayors warn: "It's a question of time, because the more often the roads are so congested, the greater the likelihood that it won't work out one day."

"It's particularly difficult for the firefighters, as they often find it hard to get to the fire station," adds Freylinger. In this regard, the fire departments have been saying behind closed doors that the emergency organization has already turned to the district administration. However, no real solutions for emergencies appear to be in sight.

Economically, the situation from Hallein to Golling is also a burden. Alois Schöninger is one of those suffering. The shoe retailer in Hallein's old town looks to the future with concern: "The previous months have had an impact on sales on congested weekends, there is significantly less footfall. In the short term, I expect the opening of the roadworks to improve things, but in the medium term it will be the same as it is now. There will be more cars and what the tunnel construction sites have now revealed will become the norm in my opinion."