As of: February 28, 2024, 5:05 a.m
By: Tanja Brinkmann
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Nothing works anymore on Innsbrucker Straße in Mittenwald, from where many drivers try to escape the traffic via the Leutasch.
© private
The communities on the Seefeld Plateau can breathe a sigh of relief.
Bans on departures from the B177 and a possible metering light at the Magic Castle near Seefeld will protect you from the traffic avalanche from this spring.
Measures that are putting worry lines on the foreheads of mayors in the southern district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
There is still no solution in sight on the German side.
District – The Tyroleans are leading the way.
In order to protect residents from the heavy holiday traffic, the authorities in the Austrian state of Tyrol have already closed traffic jam avoidance routes along important transit routes in the past.
This is already practiced on the Fernpass route.
Now they are following suit.
From this spring, these driving bans will also apply on the Seefelder Straße B177, which runs from the state border near Scharnitz to Innsbruck.
Just one day after the meeting in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office, the mayors of the Seefeld Plateau finalized this approach with district captain Michael Kirchmair from Innsbruck-Land, the traffic law department from the Tyrolean state government office as well as representatives of the police, state highway administration and the Innsbruck district administration: each From Friday to Sunday, the said ban applies in both directions.
German case law prevents preventive action
The traffic-plagued communities on the Bavarian side can only look with envy at their neighboring country.
“The federal German jurisprudence differs from the Austrian one in particular here,” explains district office spokesman Wolfgang Rotzsche.
On the German side, it is not easy to direct traffic preventively or even to stop it in certain places.
One result of the crisis meeting last Wednesday is that ways should now be identified that are open to individual municipalities themselves or to the district office in order to ban traffic from the towns and from side and side streets.
According to Rotzsche, these options are now being legally examined in close cooperation with the government of Upper Bavaria and the police.
A metering light could be installed at the Magic Castle near Seefeld and cause backlogs into the Isar Valley.
© Holzknecht Heinz
Mittenwald's mayor Enrico Corongiu (SPD) hopes that the quick action of his Tyrolean colleagues will "perhaps increase the pressure on our side."
Finally, the Austrians want to go one step further: “In addition, the possibility of installing a metering light in the Magic Castle area in the direction of Innsbruck is being examined, which can counteract overloading of the Zirler Berg in the course of the upcoming construction work on the A12 in the Zirl East area,” says a joint press release from the mayors of Leutasch, Scharnitz, Seefeld and Reith bei Seefeld.
When there is a block clearance in the tunnel, everyone goes through Farchant
Christian Hornsteiner (CSU) is somewhat surprised by the advance of the Tyroleans.
“A joint vote would be desirable here,” says the Farchanter town hall boss.
“I would also like there to be bans on driving here.” The traffic avalanche that rolled across the southern district at the end of the carnival holidays and the following Saturday had a massive impact on his community.
For ten hours there was block handling in the Farchant tunnel - with the result: “Then we have the traffic with us,” complains Hornsteiner.
Just like his fellow mayors from the district, he does not want to experience such a scenario in the long term.
“It is obvious that higher-level action at the state or federal level is necessary in order to give us municipalities on the German side the tools to be able to manage traffic problems ourselves,” emphasizes Elisabeth Koch (CSU).
The head of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen town hall agrees with District Administrator Anton Speer (Free Voters): “There can only be a large-scale solution.”
Tyrolean measures could lead to massive backlogs
Cross-border exchange on this topic should continue.
“We have to find a common path,” says Corongiu.
“And think the matter through to the end, traffic problems do not end at national borders.” There is the possibility that sat navs will switch to another route in the event of a metering light and exit bans and thus exclude the B2.
“But we don’t know whether that’s the case, so we have to assume the worst.”
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It is crucial that all sides pull together.
“The last few weeks have shown that,” confirms Mayor Georgios Chrysochoidis from Leutasch.
“These measures will definitely have an effect with regard to an upcoming toll at the Fernpass and will make the alternative route via the B177 unattractive.” He and his colleagues from the Seefeld Plateau are pleased that their demand for exit bans is being implemented so quickly.
When these apply will be worked out by the responsible authorities in the country.
What is clear, however, is that something will happen more quickly in Tyrol to relieve the communities of the traffic burden.
Corongiu also regrets this: “We still have to do our homework.”