Vienna (OTS) – Easter time is travel time! Not only all of Austria is starting the Easter holidays, the holidays are also starting in eleven German federal states, including Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. The main travel day on the first holiday weekend is Palm Saturday. In addition, an onset of winter in the Alps could cause disruption at the weekend.
The traffic jam schedule during the Easter holidays
At the start of the holiday on Friday, the city exits in Vienna, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck will be very busy, especially the Vienna southeast tangent (A23) and the Linz Mühlkreisautobahn (A7). The Ö3 traffic editorial team expects the first strong day of travel to be on the Saturday of the Palm weekend. Especially from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., all important north-south connections such as the Fernpass route, the Tauern and Brenner motorways towards ski areas will be overloaded. From Palm Sunday to next Wednesday, quiet holiday days can be expected on the streets before the second strong wave of Easter travel rolls through the country from Maundy Thursday.
The second main travel day is Good Friday, which is a public holiday in Germany. There is also a risk of traffic jams, especially in front of the single-lane tunnel construction site nearwerfen on the Tauern motorway, on the Fernpass route, on the way to the Zillertal, on the Brenner motorway towards South Tyrol or on the western and eastern motorways towards Hungary. Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday are comparatively weaker travel days. The return traffic from the holidays will be noticeable on Easter Monday and the following day on Tuesday with heavy convoys and traffic jams.
The traffic jam routes in detail
– In Salzburg, the Ö3 traffic editorial team is expecting columns of holidaymakers on the A1, the western motorway in the Salzburg area, and then especially on the A10, the Tauern motorway in front of the single-lane tunnel construction site between Golling andwerfen. There is also a risk of traffic jams on the B311, Pinzgauer Straße near Saalfelden and St. Johann and in the city through town of Zell am See due to the construction-related closure of the Schmittentunnel on the B311 towards Schüttdorf.
– In Tyrol on the A13, the Brenner motorway, towards Bozen. On the B179, the Fernpass road, block clearance is to be expected before the Füssen border tunnel and before the Lermoos tunnel. The B169, the Zillertalstraße, will also be busy, especially on Saturday. The Brettfall tunnel at the valley entrance is a bottleneck. If the traffic becomes too heavy here, it will have to be handled in blocks.
– In Bavaria, very heavy traffic at the Großer Deutschen Eck on the A93 motorway between the Inntal triangle and Kufstein and in sections on the A8 motorway in the Munich – Rosenheim – Salzburg section. If there are waiting times before the Salzburg-Walserberg border, the alternative route through Bad Reichenhall is often overloaded.
– In Styria, the B320, Ennstalstrasse, in the Liezen area and on the Stainach bypass is very busy at the start of the holidays.
– In Upper and Lower Austria, many Easter holidaymakers coming from Germany take the western motorway (A1) towards Vienna and then continue on the eastern motorway (A4) towards Budapest, Serbia or Turkey. All it takes is a small rear-end collision and a kilometer-long traffic jam quickly builds up. The heaviest travel traffic is expected here from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday.
– You have to expect waiting times at the motorway border crossings Salzburg-Walserberg, Kufstein-Kiefersfelden, Suben and Nickelsdorf.
Don’t forget winter gear
Many people who are still going on a ski holiday will be happy: According to the Ö3 weather editorial team, a cold front from Germany will cause snowfall and partly wintry driving conditions on the Palm weekend. So don’t forget snow chains on your way to your skiing holiday and only drive into the mountains with winter tires!
Ski World Cup finals in Saalbach-Hinterglemm
From Friday to Palm Sunday, the women’s and men’s speed races will take place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup finals. There are sufficient parking spaces near the race tracks. However, there can be long traffic jams on all race days on the Glemmtalstraße and on the B311 in the Saalfelden area during arrival and departure, especially on Palm Saturday, when there are also many Easter holidaymakers in the region.
The Fürstenfelder Expressway opens to traffic
On Palm Saturday in the early afternoon, the first section of the new Fürstenfeld expressway (S7) will be opened to traffic in Styria. The approximately 15 km long western section of the S7 extends from the Riegersdorf motorway junction (junction A2/S7) near Ilz to Dobersdorf. The new Fürstenfeld and Rudersdorf junctions as well as the Speltenbach tunnel (948 m long) and the Rudersdorf tunnel (2,875 m long) also go into operation. The eastern, almost 14 kilometer long construction section from Dobersdorf to the border at Heiligenkreuz is scheduled to be completed in mid-2025.
Where is it jamming? – all traffic information live
The Ö3 traffic editorial team continuously provides information about current traffic jams and waiting times. The current traffic start can be heard at any time via the Ö3 app. The traffic overview is also available on the Ö3 homepage: https://oe3.orf.at/verkehr/.
Questions & Contact:
Hitradio Ö3 public relations
Bernadette Aigner
01 87878/19121
bernadette.aigner@orf.at