The closure today, Saturday 30 May, of the A22 Brenner motorway, following the environmentalist demonstration in Austrian territory (from 11am to 7pm), is part of a scenario that is already very penalizing for light and heavy traffic along this Alpine corridor, such as to produce, according to studies by Uniontrasporti, a consortium company of the Italian Chamber of Commerce system, economic damage to our businesses amounting to 370 million euros per year: 1.8 billion in the last five years. It should be underlined that the Brenner Pass represents the main connection axis between Italy and Europe, on which both our exports and the supplies of semi-finished products and raw materials destined for our transformation industries are based.
The enormous economic damage to the Italian economy is caused by a transport capacity reduced by approximately 50%, due to the bans unilaterally imposed by the Land of Tyrol on the Austrian side of the motorway axis: night bans, sectoral bans and other limitations. The night transit ban reduces the potential of the infrastructure by approximately 32%, the weekend ban by 16% and a further 2% is caused by specific bans for some heavy vehicles and by the traffic metering system (i.e. when a maximum limit is set on the number of trucks in transit in a given time slot). These limitations, Uniontrasporti claims, create road congestion and, paradoxically, greater air and noise pollution, as well as greater risks of accidents.
Since January 2025, further limitations and costs have been added due to the works for the reconstruction of the Lueg Bridge, again in Austrian territory (about six kilometers from the state border with Italy), with only one lane in each direction available for heavy traffic and two lanes, in 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 euros per year, of which 80.5 million euros for passengers and 93.5 million euros for goods. The overall damage to our economy thus approaches 540 million euros per year.
Finally, according to the recent “Analysis of resilience 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 due to the spilling of a good part of it onto the Brenner SS12 and the secondary roads in the area. An increase in vehicular congestion, greater polluting emissions and negative repercussions on tourism and the local economy are foreseeable. In addition, 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 initiated by Italy on the Brenner Pass bans, which can establish jurisprudence and prevent the instrumental use of environmental issues from turning into damage to the economies of the Alpine territories». The Court’s ruling on the Italian appeal is expected by the end of the year.
