Politics Unofficial

It’s getting tight at the Brenner Pass: into chaos with eyes wide open

You don't have to be a prophet to know that the Luegbrücke renovation will cause major problems in Tyrol, and not just for HGV traffic.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Krone KREATIV)

It's not just truck drivers, often referred to as modern-day slaves, who will be facing hard times on their journeys through Tyrol from the start of 2025. When the Lueg Bridge on the Brenner highway is partially only passable in one lane, things will get tight. Fortunately, the renovation will be completed in 2030. Then the politicians will breathe a sigh of relief.

The bridge is getting so old, i.e. in such poor condition, that from January 1st it will only be able to bear the load of one lane per directional carriageway in the truest sense of the word.

That alone says a lot. Above all, the fact that local politicians, above all the provincial councillors responsible for traffic matters in recent years, have simply looked the other way. After all, it has been known for years that this bridge will not last forever.

The Lueg Bridge

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

What actually happened to ...?
Interestingly, it was the Greens who, under the Günther Platter II and III governments, appointed Ingrid Felipe as the member of government responsible for the project, but failed to act. Felipe is politically history, the bridge is still standing. Emphasis on still. The fact that Felipe is now supposed to be responsible for infrastructure projects at a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, DB Netz, is hard to beat in terms of piquancy.

More vehicles than ever before
But back to the Luegbrücke bottleneck. How all the traffic that was previously managed on two lanes will soon flow on just one is not only questionable, but simply impossible. It is important to note that around twelve million cars, campers and buses as well as almost 2.4 million trucks used this 1.8-kilometer-long bridge last year. More vehicles than ever before. Politicians would have to invent the much-cited "egg-laying wool-milk sow". But they won't.

It is understandable that there have recently been increasing calls for the night-time driving ban to be relaxed - and not just from Bavarian and Italian hauliers. But the state government has no intention of changing this. Why should the barely audible trucks continue to drive through Tyrol at night? The answer is probably: because it has been that way for 30 years. Out of basta.

Survey on the subject of heavy goods vehicles
Transport Minister René Zumtobel (SPÖ) will not have a solution ready either. However, he is not remaining completely inactive. He wants to conduct a major survey on the subject of heavy goods traffic in Tyrol in the fall. This last took place in 2021 and revealed that 63 percent of all HGVs drive through Tyrol in transit. The results of the new survey will hardly be any different and will not even begin to solve the Luegbrücke problem. But at least we will know who is only driving through here - for whom and whatever.