One lane passable

After severe weather: B 317 is open again from Wednesday

The road was badly damaged by the storm.(Bild: Land Steiermark)

The Friesacherstraße (B317) between Scheifling (Styria) and Friesach (Carinthia), which was badly damaged by storms on August 26, will be open to traffic again on Wednesday with at least one lane. Two sections of the road will be closed to traffic until the end of October.

On 26 August, floods washed out or tore away the roadway in ten places over a length of one kilometer, and a 50-meter-long retaining wall threatened to break off. "Now that the wall has been secured and most of the damage has been repaired, the total closure can be lifted from 9 a.m. on Wednesday and the B317 can be driven on in at least one lane again. Two sections of the road will continue to be repaired while traffic remains open until the end of October. In total, the renovation costs will amount to around 550,000 euros," said Styrian Transport Minister and Deputy Governor Anton Lang.

In order to keep the total closure as short as possible, several excavators and special equipment worked in parallel to restore and secure the road. Over 1000 tons of armourstones were moved and over 500 excavator hours were spent restoring the destroyed embankments. To secure the undermined retaining wall, a 100 square meter and 20 centimeter thick shotcrete shell was applied and connected with nails up to nine meters long.

Difficult work
The work proved to be extremely difficult as it could only be carried out from a basket attached to a crane jib. "Due to the unfavorable geology, an additional 34 vertical piles up to twelve meters deep had to be installed at the foot of the retaining wall and connected with a shotcrete beam along the entire length of the wall," said project manager and geologist Marc-André Rapp from the road maintenance service.

Until 9 a.m. on Thursday, cars will continue to be diverted via Murtalstraße (B96), Lambachbichlstraße (L513) and St.-Lambrechter-Straße (L502). Trucks over 7.5 tons must take a wide detour via Obdacher Straße (B78).