ÖAMTC: Rain, accidents and congestion in tourist traffic - temporary closure of the Karawanken Tunnel

2023-08-05 06:16:46

Numerous closures after accidents and flooding, critical situation in Slovenia

Vienna (OTS) – The ÖAMTC reported that there were already extensive obstructions on the transit routes in the early hours of the morning on Saturday. It rained heavily in large parts of the country, and accidents resulted in traffic jams stretching for kilometers, for example in Salzburg on the Tauern Autobahn (A10) and in Lower Austria on the Vienna Outer Ring Expressway (S1). The Karawanken Tunnel (A11 / A2) was closed on the Slovenian side at around seven o’clock.

Accidents occurred shortly after 6:00 a.m. on the Tauern Autobahn (A10) in the Hiefler tunnel near Golling and in the Helfersberg tunnel near Pfarrwerfen in the already brisk travel traffic heading south. Both tunnels had to be closed for the rescue work, and the traffic jams stretched back more than ten kilometers to Bad Vigaun. Although both accident sites were cleared after just over an hour, the ÖAMTC traffic experts assumed that the traffic jams would only clear up very slowly. Because many more travelers came from Germany, before the Walserberg border crossing (A1) the columns were about eight kilometers behind.

In Carinthia, the traffic jam in front of the Karawanken tunnel (A11) was around 14 kilometers long early in the morning. On the Slovenian side, according to information from the ÖAMTC, the motorway was also closed at around seven o’clock after an accident. Travelers had to be prepared for even longer waiting times.

The club appealed to travelers to stay on the motorways even if there were traffic delays, as numerous roads in the subordinate network were still closed due to flooding or debris accumulation, especially in southern Austria. In the Carinthian districts of Völkermarkt and Wolfsberg, the smaller border crossings to Slovenia were still impassable. In Slovenia itself, the A1 between Ljubljana and Celje was still closed. A number of secondary roads were also blocked, such as the direct detour route of the blocked A1 sections (R2-447). This also had to be closed in several sections due to flooding between Grajska Vas and Žalec. According to the ÖAMTC, evasion was possible over a large area via motorways.

ÖAMTC tip: Since the flood situation is constantly changing, travelers should keep themselves informed about the current traffic situation, e.g
or. /?region=si especially for Slovenia, in the cross-modal ÖAMTC route planner www.oeamtc.at/routenplaner or in the ÖAMTC app.

On the south autobahn (A2), travelers in the direction of Vienna between the Packsattel and Modriach and in front of the Assingberg tunnel made very slow progress, also due to accidents here.

In Lower Austria, the Vienna Outer Ring Expressway (S1) was blocked for around two hours in the direction of Schwechat after an accident involving three vehicles, the ÖAMTC reported. At times, the traffic jam reached back to the A21 via the Vösendorf node.

(continuation possible)

Römer / Kner