Dress rehearsal for 2025

Lueg Bridge on the test bench, partly single-lane from April

The Lueg Bridge on the Tyrolean Brenner freeway, which is in need of renovation, will undergo a main inspection in April. According to Asfinag, during this time there will be "partial and alternating single lanes" until the end of the month. The findings will then provide the basis for the "period of possible single-laning" from 2025.

"We know that the existing Lueg Bridge urgently needs to be rebuilt, we have been pointing this out for years. However, the main inspection will now provide clarity about the current statics and the condition of the individual bridge sections," says Asfinag Managing Director Alexander Walcher. During the "check", every part of the bridge will be examined on the spot - which is why a single-lane route will be necessary.

Bridge is "permanently monitored"
However, the Lueg Bridge already has a "comprehensive sensor system" that "permanently monitors" the condition of the bridge. This makes the Lueg Bridge "currently probably the best-monitored bridge in the whole of Europe", it said.

Specifically, only one lane will be available in the direction of Brenner from April 3 to probably April 12. In the direction of Innsbruck, it will then be open from April 10 to 30.

Once the inspection has been completed, the highway operator will receive "a final report that will provide us with information on all further measures and, above all, the timetable for these steps," announced Asfinag Managing Director Stefan Siegele. A working group will then draw up a "final package of measures for the single-lane period in detail".

General refurbishment vs. tunnel solution
The future of the Lueg Bridge, which was built in the 1960s, has been the subject of repeated disputes between the people of Wipptal, Tyrolean state politicians, Asfinag and the Ministry of Transport. The local community of Gries am Brenner in particular campaigned vehemently against Asfinag's plans for a general renovation and insisted on a tunnel solution. Most recently, the mayor of the neighboring community lodged a complaint against the Ministry of Transport's decision to renovate the bridge.

Before the municipal council elections in 2022, the then governor Günther Platter also discussed a tunnel solution. His successor Anton Mattle (both ÖVP) did not want to make this demand. According to Mattle, it was no longer a political question, but a technical one. The tunnel variant would take at least ten years, but there is no longer that much time. Mattle and his regional transport councillor René Zumtobel (SPÖ) urged Asfinag and the federal government to make improvements for the population affected by traffic. The head of the province also called for an overall concept with regard to roadworks and noise protection for the entire Wipptal valley.