Highway Code, ZTL for Unesco protected areas coming soon

Afterpaid access for Venice, 'Restricted Traffic Zones' - justified by 'extraordinary protection needs' - for Italian areas that host sites and monuments inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, starting with the Amalfitan Coast. This is what is envisaged by an amendment to the reform of the Highway Code (AC 1435) that today returns to the attention of the Chamber of Montecitorio at first reading.

The proposed amendment, signed by Forza Italia, is part of the approximately 160 amendments approved by the Transport Committee, and introduces in Article 6 of the Cds (circulation outside built-up areas) the possibility for local and regional authorities in Unesco areas to set up Ztl zones to reduce traffic pressure in the most sensitive valuable areas. With certain stakes. For instance, the 'off limits' zones for the unauthorised cannot last longer than five months: they are therefore temporary restricted traffic zones (Ztlt), whose accesses can also be controlled electronically. A favourable opinion of the Prefect is then required, while the municipality may not charge authorised persons to access the Ztl.

Signs must then be adequate to indicate the prohibited area to motorists. Ad hoc signposting is not necessary if the perimeter of the Ztl 'coincides with the boundaries of one or more local authorities, provided that 'notice of this prohibition is given through all available means of information with at least three months' notice with respect to its entry into force', without prejudice to the obligation for the institutional sites of the authorities concerned to give notice 'of the duration of the prohibition for the entire period of the prohibition'. Finally, the 'Unesco' ZTL cannot concern motorways, main suburban roads and urban roads already subject to ordinary Zrl.

"The Amalfi Coast's ZTL proposal,' explains the sunder-secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, the azure Tullio Ferrante, 'is aimed at accommodating the territory's demands in terms of road system and safety,' and for this reason 'I have personally worked to ensure that this fundamental measure is put into practice in law. After the final approval of the Ddl revising the Highway Code, Ferrante assures us, we will devote attention to the way the measure is applied, in an effective and dynamic manner, enhancing the tourism system of a Unesco heritage site'. The application rules will therefore be 'flexible' and will be written 'together with the local authorities and all the operators involved: the Ztl on the Coast must be an advantage for everyone'.

The resumption of the examination of the Cds reform in Montecitorio arrives at the same time as the last day of protests that have been held since 9 March in some 40 cities, from Rome to Milan, from Cagliari to Trieste, from Bari to Genoa via Bologna. In the squares, to say 'Stop the Code of the Massacre', dozens of associations relatives of road victims and other associations united against the new Highway Code wanted by the Minister for Infrastructure Matteo Salvini. The Code 'updated' by the majority 'will set Italy back 40 years from the point of view of road safety and sustainable mobility and will distance it even further from other European countries where mortality levels due to road accidents and pollution are already lower than in Italy', claim the organisers.