Several thousand people gathered on a section of this axis crossing the Brenner Pass, which connects the northern and southern parts of Europe, the Austrian portion constituting one of the main routes leading to Italian territory through the Alps.
“We want to send a message to Brussels and to the federal government in Vienna that things absolutely cannot and must not continue like this, with this traffic constantly increasing here,” declared Karl Muehlsteiger, the organizer of the demonstration, in Matrei am Brenner, in Tyrol (west).
“This is a problem that has been going on for a very, very long time. This has been dragging on for years, (…) the population can’t take it any longer, it has become unbearable,” lamented Mr. Muehlsteiger, who is the mayor of this city, referring to the pollution, noise and traffic jams which affect the localities located along the highway.
Residents of Tyrol have long complained about the heavy traffic on this highway, particularly the passage of trucks.
To allow the demonstration to take place, the authorities closed part of this axis and adjacent roads to all transit from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Austrian automobile club OeAMTC, for its part, recommended that motorists avoid crossing Tyrol that day.
However, the OeAMTC stressed in the morning that there was “no significant traffic jam”.
The German Automobile Association (ADAC) confirmed the absence of traffic jams on the German side.
On the other hand, the Italian railway company Trenitalia reported significant disruptions to rail traffic on the Brenner-Verona line during the protest rally, due to a “malicious act committed by unknown persons”.
Heavy goods vehicle traffic across the Brenner Pass has increased significantly, with more than 2.4 million trucks recorded last year, according to the specialist organization VCOe.
For comparison, 860,000 trucks crossed neighboring Switzerland via four transit routes, she said.
In 1991, only 900,000 heavy goods vehicles crossed the Brenner Pass, according to road statistics.
Austria has for years been at odds with the European Commission, which believes that any ban on truck traffic risks disrupting road traffic within the EU.
In 2023, the Court of Justice of the EU suspended an Austrian measure which prohibited the circulation of these vehicles on a portion of this motorway due in particular to its environmental impact.
