Trouble along the A10

“I fear the traffic jam will remain a constant issue”

The holidaymaker traffic flows over the A10 as well as through the town centers of Kuchl and Golling (photo).(Bild: zVg)

The 28-kilometre-long column of metal was a harbinger of further huge traffic jams, fear local leaders. The wave of travelers returning from the German Whitsun vacations starts on Saturday.

For a day and a half, everything in Kuchl was at a standstill. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that the vacation traffic from Germany slowly began to subside. "We are finally experiencing normal activity in our town again," said ÖVP mayor Thomas Freylinger with relief on Monday.

As in Kuchl, the traffic situation in Golling only eased after the extreme event on Friday and Saturday. The traffic jam caused waiting times of up to five hours in front of the construction sites of the Werfen tunnel chain. Although drivers' clubs had expressly warned of this, it was mainly Whitsun holidaymakers from seven German federal states who nevertheless headed for Italy and Croatia.

Climate stickers on the A10 near Hallein caused outrage among holidaymakers.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Climate stickers pecked at the highway for an hour
In the middle of it all, activists from the Last Generation were still stuck to the A10 near Hallein on Saturday. It took time for the authorities to decide to break up the blockade. The climate stickers were only removed after just under an hour.

Countless holidaymakers will once again be heading south on Corpus Christi.(Bild: BERNHARD NIEDERHAUSER)

Another huge traffic jam could soon return on a similar scale. "I fear it will be a permanent issue until June and beyond. There are more renovations to come," says Kuchl's village chief Freylinger. Sabine Klausner, Salzburg SPÖ traffic spokeswoman, also criticizes the closures to the main roads.

Pongau communities expect a strong wave of returns
Like Freylinger, she is once again calling for a toll exemption. This would allow the police to send holidaymakers' cars back onto the highway. "We also need to close the Kreuzberg exit for Bischofshofen," says Klausner. On Saturday, the return journey of the Whitsun holidaymakers will clog up the Pongau communities in front of the tunnel construction site. Klausner: "Then we'll have cars with boats and surfboards everywhere in the Bischofshofen area. Something has to change."