As of: February 23, 2024, 4:28 p.m
By: Johannes Welte
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Press
Split
The onset of winter in the Alps is causing traffic chaos: 40 centimeters of fresh snow fell on the Brenner Pass.
The highway was completely closed.
Innsbruck – The cold front that moved across the Alps on Friday (February 23rd) caused heavy snowfall, especially on the main ridge of the mountains.
Since the early hours of the morning it has been snowing non-stop around the Brenner Pass on both the Italian and Austrian sides.
By early afternoon the snow had piled up to 40 centimeters high.
Webcam footage shows trucks lying sideways at the state border and a blanket of snow on the highway.
Hundreds of trucks are stuck on the Brenner motorway.
The highway is closed in both directions.
© Asfinag
Traffic chaos after heavy snowfall on the Brenner: trucks lying sideways block the clearing vehicles
The important transit route was closed on the Italian southern side from Vipiteno (South Tyrol), and a six-kilometer-long traffic jam formed here in the early afternoon.
In the opposite direction there were mainly trucks, but also cars, over a length of 30 kilometers; after all, the Brenner motorway on the north side in Austria and Tyrol was closed at the beginning near Innsbruck.
Just a few days ago, a rock avalanche thundered onto the Brenner Road in South Tyrol and caused a traffic jam.
The webcam on the Brenner shows a closed blanket of snow and a truck lying sideways. © autobrennero.it
“Trucks stuck in some places on the A13 are currently causing traffic disruptions and the snowfall is still heavy.
In addition to more than 20 clearing vehicles, we also use special towing companies along the route to get these trucks back on the road,” writes the Austrian motorway operator Asfinag on Facebook.
Asfinag spokesman Alexander Holzedl reports: “A big problem are those trucks that use the second and third lanes despite driving and overtaking bans and thus block the way for cars, but especially for Asfinag's clearing teams, if they get stuck.” In addition to clearing vehicles, special towing companies would also be deployed along the route to get these trucks back on the road.
There was no easing of the situation in sight.
The snowfall was expected to last until midnight, and temperatures of minus 13 degrees were expected on the Brenner Pass overnight.
Many other roads were also closed due to snowfall
There were also obstructions on other pass roads.
According to
ORF,
Reschen-Straße between Nauders and the Kajetansbrücke had to be closed.
A tree blocked the road.
On the Gerlosstraße between Zillertal (Tyrol) and Pinzgau (Salzburg), a kilometer-long traffic jam formed from Hainzenberg (Tyrol) due to the snow-covered road.
Chains are required for all vehicles for the Gerlos Pass.
Snow chains were required on the Arlberg pass road from St. Anton, as well as on the Tuxer road from Finkenberg and on the Sellraintal road.
There were also obstructions in Salzburger Land, for example on the Pass-Thurn-Straße near Mittersill (Pinzgau) and on the Katschbergstraße over the Radstädter Tauern Pass.
Snow chains were required for the passes.
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In South Tyrol, emergency services are constantly deployed to recover vehicles that have crashed.
Here it snowed down to 600 meters.
At the weekend there were foehn temperatures of up to 20 degrees.
Meanwhile, in Austria, the discussion about a year-round ban on trucks driving on dangerous roads has flared up again due to a serious accident.