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austrian toll bypass - new rules


spirou

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A paragraph with the main translation courtesy of Google translate:

 

"Driving ban on toll evasion routes at weekends

 

As a countermeasure, Austria introduced a driving ban last Thursday, 20.6.2019, which is valid until mid-September on all weekends. Every Saturday from 7 o'clock until Sunday at 19 o'clock transit passengers are not allowed to leave the motorway exits between Hall in Tirol and Zirl on the Inntal motorway A12 . Only residents and tourists whose destination is in Innsbruck or in the surrounding area are excluded from the weekend driving bans. The same applies to the route between Gries and Patsch on the Brenner motorway A13 . In addition, many other highways are closed to transit traffic. Big exception: the federal road B182 am Brenner is not occupied by any traffic."

 

Keith.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That article doesnt seem to affect me crossing Austria as I dont use any motorways, and the article seems to imply is that all it does is to stop people leaving the motorway to avoid jams on the motorway. As I'm not on the motorway,it doesnt affect me.

 

Previous experience has also taught us not to travel through lower Germany or Austria on the way to or from Italy at the weekend as the jams can be horrendous

 

cheers alan

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As I read the article quoted, the ban is only at weekends and only on leaving small sections of the A12 and A13 in the Tirol

It would seem to be a local spat between Bavarian & Tirol authorities.

It seems to me there are plenty of other ways through Austria on non-motorway ("free") roads, so nothing to panic about?

 

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True. But then again, many of you Brits seem to navigate towards Brenner pass and routes nearby, which are affected. And for some reason have a tendency to avoid toll roads judging from past discussions. I personally don't have a problem buying the yearly vignette as it gets used a lot and is about the same price as driving just once across northern Italy ;-)
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spirou - 2019-07-08 8:34 AM

 

True. But then again, many of you Brits seem to navigate towards Brenner pass and routes nearby, which are affected. And for some reason have a tendency to avoid toll roads judging from past discussions. I personally don't have a problem buying the yearly vignette as it gets used a lot and is about the same price as driving just once across northern Italy ;-)

 

I agree, the Vignette seems fair value to me, but I'm 3850Kg and the Go Box is whole different ball game - especially if you are simply transiting Austria albeit with a stop over here or there. In any event being retired and in no rush, I try to avoid motorways in all countries - I want to see the country, not tarmac, metal rubber & glass!

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As laimeduck says it's at weekends and about motorways.

 

I'm also 3850 and would therefore need a go box. I happily paid for the vignette when we were 3500 and in a rush due to 3 weeks holiday for many years as we've spent alot of time in Italy and usually crossed Austria or Switzerland as we will this autumn. But I'm retired now and might have 2 or 3 nights each way in Austria or Switzerland when we travel now. When we get nearer the time we will decide which way to go and it wont be at the weekend because of the level of traffic. If we're crossing Switzerland we'll probably buy a 10day vignette, Much better than a go box

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I've mentioned this route before, as it is a quite good toll free way across Austria (no vignette, no Go Box) to North Italy, especially of heading for Venice. We have used it numerous times.

 

Take the german A7 towards Fussen and continue through the Grenztunnel into Austria where take the Fernpass (B179). Follow B179 past Reutte over the Fernpass to Nassereith, where take the B189 direction Imst. At Imst take B171 (being careful not to get shunted onto the parallel, toll, A12) direction Landeck. At Landeck take L76 then B180 direction Reschenpass, Reschen, and Italy.

 

There is an interesting car park in Curon Venosta, which is just into Italy. Both Fern and Reschen passes are relatively easy, and are used by 40T trucks (which can be a little slow if behind one - though most of the drivers know the road well and don't hang around).

 

From Curon Venosta the Italian SS38 takes you down to Merano and Bolzano, where you can head on south to Verona, or south-east to Venice.

 

If using a sat-nav set it to avoid tolls from Fussen, and input the coordinates N46.81090 E10.53787, which is the Curon Venosta car park. Providing your sat-nav maps are up to date, that should get you to the car park without incident.

 

If using maps, although the instructions may sound a bit complicated, the route is quite straightforward and generally well signposted.

 

So far as I can see, none of this route will be affected by the additional Austrian restrictions. We last used this May, and it was still all toll-free then.

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Brian Kirby - 2019-07-08 7:13 PM

 

I've mentioned this route before, as it is a quite good toll free way across Austria (no vignette, no Go Box) to North Italy, especially of heading for Venice. We have used it numerous times.

 

Take the german A7 towards Fussen and continue through the Grenztunnel into Austria where take the Fernpass (B179). Follow B179 past Reutte over the Fernpass to Nassereith, where take the B189 direction Imst. At Imst take B171 (being careful not to get shunted onto the parallel, toll, A12) direction Landeck. At Landeck take L76 then B180 direction Reschenpass, Reschen, and Italy.

 

There is an interesting car park in Curon Venosta, which is just into Italy. Both Fern and Reschen passes are relatively easy, and are used by 40T trucks (which can be a little slow if behind one - though most of the drivers know the road well and don't hang around).

 

From Curon Venosta the Italian SS38 takes you down to Merano and Bolzano, where you can head on south to Verona, or south-east to Venice.

 

If using a sat-nav set it to avoid tolls from Fussen, and input the coordinates N46.81090 E10.53787, which is the Curon Venosta car park. Providing your sat-nav maps are up to date, that should get you to the car park without incident.

 

If using maps, although the instructions may sound a bit complicated, the route is quite straightforward and generally well signposted.

 

So far as I can see, none of this route will be affected by the additional Austrian restrictions. We last used this May, and it was still all toll-free then.

Yup have used this route several times over the years and it's great.

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Read the update on the news. There's at least a restriction around Reute on your proposed route.

 

Also, this is the crucial sentence that's not entirely explained:

Außerdem sind viele weitere Landstraßen für den Durchreiseverkehr gesperrt (In addition, many other highways are closed to transit traffic.) I take it there are more restrictions that are not mentioned and could well include your entire proposed route.

 

At least on weekends until september...

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Thanks Spirou, I see what you mean. Part of my problem is that I am relying on Google to translate the promobil site. My original interpretation was that they were trying to stop people leaving the autobahnen at specified junctions to by-pass autobahn toll queues.

 

However, looking more closely at the map, I realise that both the Reutte Nord and Vils junctions referred to are exits from the B179 - which is not, of course, autobahn (or dual carriageway).

 

The translation says "driving restrictions", whereas it seems that what is intended is road closure to through traffic. Its going to cause an almighty cock-up, especially at Vils, as I imagine they will direct all through traffic back through the Grenztunnel toward Fussen.

 

So I agree: the safest conclusion, as you suggest, is to assume the road will be closed at these locations from 07:00 Saturday mornings to 19:00 Sunday evenings, until after 19:00 on Sunday 15 September.

 

Not the end of the world as that (apparently!) leaves the route open form Monday to Friday. But well spotted, and thanks.

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True Jeremy, though it is quite a swing to the east only to come back west again.

 

But I wonder how reliable that "loophole" will remain, as this seems to be collateral damage from a bit of a tit for tat spat between Germany and Austria, with both countries threatening to take the other to court under EU law. Best to avoid travel through Austria at weekends for now, I think.

 

Alternatively, just get into Austria Friday evening, and then spend the weekend there. There's quite a nice campsite in Reutte and, if you take your walking legs with you, you could even walk up an Alp or two! :-D

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We came back from Northern Italy via the Brenner & Fern Passes on Monday 1st July.. The Brenner, motorways & B roads were pretty clear & free-flowing until Nassereith, where the grid-lock started & continued over the Fern Pass until the Lermoos tunnel. Very slow going, with frequent stops.

 

We travelled up to Vipiteno from Iseo on Friday 28th June (defeated by the high temperatures - needed altitude !) & gantry signs on the Brenner autostrada were showing that the Reschen Pass was closed to HGVs and busses.

 

We had traveled down from near Zwickau on Wednesday 19th June heading for Austria. Due to (many) previous delays around the Munich ring, we bypassed Munich on the B roads & joined the autobahn at Rosenheim, intending to take the A93 towards Innsbruck. Mistake. The Police had closed off the A93 on ramp (a Police officer was stood in the middle of the motorway) & gantry signs said something about metering traffic to the border crossing. We continued further down the A8 but hadn't realised that the 20th was a German holiday (Corpus Christi) & all the campsites on the Chiemsee were full. Decided to push on towards Reit im Winkle, stayed overnight at a nice site in Unterwossen & crossed into Austria without any hassle on the (Austrian) B172.

 

I am getting a bit fed up with the on-going squabbles between the Austrians & the Bavarians and, as Mrs B has been muttering about visiting Lake Maggiore we might just give Austria & Bavaria a miss next year & go the Italy via Switzerland. It will probably work out cheaper from a tolls perspective as well - 2 x 40CHF vignettess (3.5 T van + motorcycle trailer) vs. 2 x 10 day Austrian vignettes (€9.30 each), 2 x Brenner tolls (€9.50 each) and Italian motorway tolls (top of the Brenner to Bescia West (Iseo) €28.60 each way) this year - so about £64 for the Swiss vignettes vs around £85 this year at current rates.

 

I did think that travelling through Germany was easier this year than than it has been for the last couple of years - fewer roadworks & fewer lorries. I could be mistaken, but I think the tolls for lorries have been changed - IIRC it used to be tolls for lorries over 12.5 T, but this year the signs said applicable to lorries over 7.5T.

 

While we are still working & are limited in terms of holidays, using the motorway routes is a necessary evil to get to the areas we wish to visit within the time available. Areas en-route that engineer difficulties will have to be bypassed - something of a loss to both us and their tourist industries.

 

Nigel B

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