Toll road on Lake Walchen: The barrier closes after 1000 vehicles

Created: 04/30/2022, 19:00

By: Andreas Steppan

The barriers at the access roads to the southern shore road on Walchensee should be closed from a certain number of vehicles.

Should there be chaotic days with large crowds this summer, that would be the first test for the new system.

© Arndt Pröhl

Traffic on the southern shore of Walchensee will be restricted: as soon as 1,000 vehicles are registered there, the toll road will be closed.

Will the system prove itself in practice?

Jachenau

- Will it be a summer with many dream bathing days?

That cannot yet be estimated.

At the Walchensee, however, one prepares oneself.

This season, automatic vehicle counting will go into operation for the first time on the toll road on the south bank.

Once a maximum number of cars has been reached, the barriers at the toll stations are lowered and no one is allowed to enter.

Walchensee toll stations: vehicle registration via induction loops

The structural prerequisites have been in place since last year, as Rudolf Plochmann, head of the Tölz forestry operation, explains.

There are induction loops in the asphalt and in front of the toll stations at Einsiedl and Niedernach there are alternative parking spaces and space to turn around.

The toll attendants are still being trained in how to use the counting system these days.

If the situation arises that the south bank is fully parked, then the municipality is called upon: because only they can issue the traffic law order to block a road.

Here, as Jachenau Mayor Klaus Rauchenberger explains, there should be a "short official channel" between the municipality, district office and police in order to initiate a closure at short notice.

A threshold of 1000 vehicles is targeted for this.

Depending on how the cars are parked and, above all, how many mobile homes are among them, it may be that the parking spaces are fully occupied with 900 or 1100 vehicles.

"We'll have to watch that," says Rauchenberger.

Sign should indicate closure in Wegscheid

The next sticking point: Drivers should be informed at an early stage.

"It only works with an interchangeable sign in Wegscheid," emphasizes Rauchenberger.

Plochmann explains that the forestry company has offered the state building authority a financial contribution to a sign with electronic scrolling.

There are even two locations for such signs under discussion, confirms Martin Herda from the State Building Authority.

However, only indications on the access route via the Jachenau are intended.

"On this side, drivers would drive 15 to 20 kilometers from Wegscheid in vain into a dead end," says Herda.

Anyone who finds out in Einsiedl that the southern shore is closed can still head for another side of Lake Walchen from there.

There are currently only signs with red and green dots on the route that indicate if the toll road is closed due to the risk of avalanches.

But they have to be operated manually - "not realistic" in the event of a short-term overcrowding of the south bank, according to Plochmann.

Rauchenberger, meanwhile, even thinks it would be best if the display boards informed you when the parking lots on the south bank were 80 or 90 percent full.

The barrier opens for rescue services and residents

It must also be ensured that the toll booths are still on site even when the barrier is closed in order to let residents or emergency vehicles through.

"The toll road is our main connection to the maternity ward in Garmisch," he points out.

And cutting off customers who want to go to companies in Wallgau or Krün "would be bad for business," he warns.

He is curious to see how the system will prove itself in practice.

Rauchenberger admits that there was not a day last summer when such a restriction would have been necessary.

"But that doesn't mean that we won't get such chaotic days again." In this case, Plochmann is convinced, the barriers will "bring great progress".

In the beginning you will of course have to gain experience.

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