Brenner, Austrian blockades damage the Italian economy between 370 and 540 million a year
The policy of unilateral traffic bans and restrictions imposed by the Tyrol is under indictment
by Marco Morino
The closure of the A22 Brenner motorway today, Saturday 30 May, following the environmentalist demonstration on Austrian territory (from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.), is part of a scenario that is already very penalising for light and heavy traffic along this Alpine corridor, such as to produce, according to the studies of Uniontrasporti, a consortium of the Italian system of Chambers of Commerce, an economic damage to our companies of 370 million euro per year: 1.8 billion in the last five years. It should be emphasised that the Brenner Pass is the main route between Italia and Europe, on which both our exports and supplies of semi-finished products and raw materials for our processing industries are based.
The enormous economic damage to the Italian economy is caused by a reduced transport capacity of about 50%, due to the unilateral bans imposed by the Land Tyrol on the Austrian side of the motorway axis: night bans, sector bans and other restrictions. Night bans reduce the capacity of the infrastructure by around 32%, weekend bans by 16%, and a further 2% is caused by specific bans on certain heavy goods vehicles and the traffic metering system (i.e. when a maximum limit is set on the number of trucks in transit at a certain time). Such restrictions, Uniontrasporti argues, create road congestion and, paradoxically, more air and noise pollution, as well as greater risks of accidents.
Since January 2025, further restrictions and costs have been added due to work on the rebuilding of the Lueg Bridge, also on Austrian territory (about six kilometres from the state border with Italia), with only one lane in each direction available for heavy traffic and two lanes, during the busiest periods, for light traffic. Between significant increases in time and costs and 10% of traffic diverted to Gotthard, San Bernardino and Tarvisio, the impact estimated by Uniontrasporti is 174 million euro per year, of which 80.5 million euro for passengers and 93.5 million euro for goods. The total damage to our economy is thus close to EUR 540 million per year.
Finally, according to the recent 'Resilience Analysis of the Crossing System' (developed by Uniontrasporti on behalf of Unioncamere), it emerges that even light traffic during the 2 June bridge will be damaged by today's blockade, as a large part of it will spill over onto the Brenner SS12 and secondary roads in the area. Increased vehicular congestion, higher pollutant emissions and negative effects on tourism and the local economy can be expected. Besides, also in this case, heavier environmental impacts.
Faced with all this, explains a note from the MIT (Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure), "Minister Matteo Salvini expects an unequivocal ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on the case brought by Italia on the bans at the Brenner Pass, which could make case law and prevent the instrumental use of environmental issues from turning into damage for the economies of the Alpine territories. The Court's ruling on the Italia appeal is expected by the end of the year.
