Autostrada A22

	Template: Infobox high-ranking road / Maintenance / IT-A
	Autostrada A22 in Italy
	Autostrada del Brennero; Brenner motorway; ; Modena - Brennero / Brenner
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Autostrada del Brennero SpA / ; Brennerautobahn AG
Start of the street:	Brenner ; ( 47 ° 0 ′ N , 11 ° 30 ′ E )
End of street:	Campogalliano ; ( 44 ° 40 ′ N , 10 ° 51 ′ E )
Overall length:	314 km
Regions :	Trentino-South Tyrol; Veneto; Lombardy; Emilia-Romagna;
Requirement for use:	Toll: closed system ; toll-free : on the section state border Austria - Sterzing
Development condition:	2 × 2 including additional dynamic lane and 2 × 2 lanes
	The Brennero / Brenner tollbooth on the A22 near Sterzing
	Autonomous Region Trentino-South Tyrol
	region Veneto
	region Lombardy
	Region Emilia-Romagna

The A22 motorway ( Italian : Autostrada A22 ), also known as the Brenner motorway (Italian: Autostrada del Brennero ), is an Italian motorway and leads from the Brenner Pass on the Italian-Austrian border through the Wipptal , Eisack and Adige valleys through South Tyrol and Trentino to Verona and on through the Po Valley to Modena , where it joins the A1 . A total of 314 kilometers long, it continues the Austrian Brenner A13 motorway and thus forms the most important cross-Alpine traffic axis between Germany and Italy .

The Italian Brenner motorway is operated by Autostrada del Brennero SpA / Brennerautobahn AG (based in Trento), and a route-dependent toll is levied on all vehicles.

Route and rest stops

The Brenner motorway begins at the Brenner Pass , where it connects to the Austrian A13 . The motorway initially leads south through the Wipptal to Sterzing , before changing its direction to the southeast and reaching Brixen . Here it meets the feeder road SS 49 from the Pustertal . Then it leads southwest through the Eisack valley and reaches Bolzano . The MeBo joins the motorway here when coming from Merano . Further south through the Adige Valley , it enters the Trentino and leads past the cities of Trento and Rovereto . Near Lake Garda , it reaches the Veneto region and the city of Verona . Here it crosses with the A4 and then continues through the Po Valley south into Lombardy , past the city of Mantua . Here she crosses the Po .

Finally it reaches Emilia-Romagna and, past the cities of Carpi and Modena, meets the A1 , into which it joins.

There are currently 22 rest stops along the Brenner motorway (11 in each directional lane) plus a truck stop near Sterzing (Ex Sadobre), which is accessible from both directional lanes. Due to the age and the increased volume of traffic, these should be overhauled, renovated and also expanded step by step. It started in 2013 with the Paganella Ost and Trens Ost rest areas.

At the beginning of 2013, a special rest stop also opened on the former customs area on the Brenner Pass: without a gas station, but with a large exhibition hall with works of art by the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi , including videos, drawings and installations.

Panorama view of the course of the Brenner autobahn through the Eisack valley

history

At the Brenner Pass , the A22 crosses the main Alpine ridge at around 1,375 meters above sea level. Since the Treaty of Saint-Germain came into force in 1920, the Brenner Pass has been the border between Italy and Austria .

Construction work on the A22 began in 1963 after the Eisacktal variant against one of Merano circles as well as the daily newspaper Alto Adige 1961/62 favored variant of Meran and Passeier was definitely given preference. On December 21, 1968, the first section of the motorway in the Adige Valley from Bolzano to Trento was opened to traffic with a length of around 50 kilometers. During the same period, the Brennersee - Matrei motorway section was inaugurated in Austria .

With the opening of the Grasstein - Vahrn section on July 27, 1972, the motorway from Brenner to Klausen (54 km) and from Bozen to Modena (228 km) was passable. On the Austrian side, the Inntal Autobahn (A12) to Kufstein was completed in 1972, thus establishing a connection to the German motorway network . Since then - as provided for in the Geneva Convention of 1950 - the Brenner motorway has fulfilled its function as Europe's major traffic artery.

On April 11, 1974, the last section Klausen – Bozen-Süd was finally opened. This section has a number of technically demanding structures such as bridges , viaducts and tunnels .

Until the beginning of the 1990s, it was not possible to leave the Italian side in either direction between the Brenner tollbooth and the state border. In order to get to the border town of Brenner-Ort, you either had to take the road from the Sterzing junction or exit the motorway at the “Brenner-Nord” exit on the Austrian side.

Viaduct in the Eisack Valley

The marked junction Pontigl only allows the exit in a northerly direction, an approach is not planned. Coming south from the border, you can get onto the A22 via the Brennerbad junction; an exit is not possible. The Brennerort exit does not allow access to the motorway.

On January 3, 2007, the Brixen industrial area exit was opened to relieve the city of Brixen from heavy traffic . In this, however, the motorway can only be entered in the north and only exited in the south. In contrast to all other toll booths, it is completely automated. The newest junction is Trento sud south of the city of Trento (Trento). This was opened on May 3, 2011. As a consequence, the old junction Trento centro was closed, this only serves as an entrance.

Dynamic lane Bolzano South - Verona North

The opening of a third lane through the temporary hard shoulder release serves to efficiently cope with traffic-technical peaks, which can occur especially during the vacation periods of the year, because the vehicle capacity is increased by the third lane (approx. 4000-4200 vehicles / hour) and reduces the possibility of traffic jams. This approach is currently being tested by the Brennerautobahn AG in a test section between Trento Centro and Rovereto Sud on the southbound road.

The drivers are informed via messages on the variable overhead light displays: information in text form and images indicate the trafficable lanes and the speed limit to be observed. After carrying out the necessary checks (traffic flow, weather conditions and condition of the section to be released), the employees of the user service center (CAU) will manually start the procedure that shows the changes in the lanes.

The section is monitored by video cameras, traffic detection systems and sensors by employees of the motorway company. Traffic patrols are also used.

Data

The A22 in the lowlands, south of Bolzano

Although the motorway reaches a high alpine pass (approx. 1375 m), the road gradient remains minimal: only the last section Sterzing-Brenner has a gradient of 3.8 percent, the average gradient between Brenner and Bolzano is 1.4 percent.

The section from Brenner to Verona is largely carried out on 101 bridges or viaducts. (30 kilometers of the motorway between Brenner and Bolzano run on bridges.) In this part, the A22 is 24 meters wide and has four lanes with emergency lanes, with each lane being 7.5 meters wide. South of Verona, the motorway is 33 meters wide, as the median is 12 meters wide.

In the mountain area, the curves also had to be made tighter in some cases. The tightest bends between Brenner and Bozen have a radius of curvature of 500 meters, between Bozen and Modena it is 1000 meters. For this reason, there is a continuous speed limit of 110 kilometers per hour up to Bolzano.

The A22 runs through 29 tunnels. All were built with two tubes so that there is nowhere oncoming traffic. In total, the tunnels are 12.2 kilometers long.

The motorway has to cope with daily traffic of 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles. Heavy traffic accounts for a quarter of this .

toll

The Brenner toll booth

16 kilometers south of the state border at the Vipiteno / Sterzing junction is the Brenner main toll station , which all vehicles have to pass to get over the Brenner. As usual in Italy, the motorway is subject to a toll, whereby the amount of the toll is calculated according to the distance traveled. There is an overview on the homepage of the Brenner motorway (see under web links).

Projects

Expansion of Verona – Modena

In 2009, the first plans for the six-lane expansion between Verona and Campogalliano / Modena began and will be implemented from 2013. The 91 km long, 753 million euro expansion is to be divided into three construction lots .

Lot I will run from KM 223–246 (Verona Nord – regional border Veneto / Lombardy) and will focus on the reconstruction of the motorway intersection with the A4 . With a length of 38 km (KM 246–284, regional border Lombardy / Emilia-Romagna), construction lot II will be the most complex section, here the new construction and some important interventions on engineering structures are planned, in particular the crossing of the Fissero-Tartaro Canal and the new construction of bridges over Mincio and Po .

The third construction lot with about 30 kilometers (KM 284–314) runs completely in the area of the Emilia-Romagna region and extends to the motorway triangle with the A1 . This construction lot contains the complete reconstruction of the motorway triangle and the connection of the future motorway section to Sassuolo .

When the construction work will actually begin is currently (January 2018) still open.

Extension of the motorway to Sassuolo

Furthermore, the extension of the A22 south of Campogalliano to Sassuolo is planned. The project was approved by ANAS in 2005. It is not yet known when construction will start.

The works include a motorway-like route with a length of approx. 15 km and connect the A22, the A1 and the SS 467 Reggio nell'Emilia - Pozza . It is planned to connect the ceramic district of Sassuolo and the surrounding communities to the national highway network. The project is supported by the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE).

literature

Gunther Langes , Ernst Pertl: Dream road in the Alps: the Brenner motorway Innsbruck-Bozen-Verona. Athesia publishing house, Bolzano 1971.

Wittfrida Mitterer: Built landscape in motion. The Brenner motorway. A building of the century turns 50 . Weger, Brixen 2014, ISBN 978-88-6563-111-9 .

Magdalena Pernold: dream road or transit hell ? A history of discourse on the Brenner autobahn in Tyrol and South Tyrol (1950–1980) . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8376-3525-6 .

Web links

Commons : Autostrada A22 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Brennerautobahn AG
Info page from Autostrade per l'Italia for all Italian motorways
Traffic reporting center Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol

Individual evidence

^ Museum website , accessed October 13, 2014
^ Structures along the A22
↑ Magdalena Pernold: The Brenner motorway as an infrastructure for traffic and transit. For the delimitation of geographical traffic areas in the period of their realization . In: Andrea Bonoldi, Hannes Obermair (eds.): Transport and infrastructure - Trasporti e infrastrutture (= history and region / Storia e regione 25/2 ). StudienVerlag, 2017, ISSN 1121-0303 , p. 64–81, here: pp. 76–78 .

[1] Museum website , accessed October 13, 2014

[lotsberg.net-2] Structures along the A22

[3] Magdalena Pernold: The Brenner motorway as an infrastructure for traffic and transit. For the delimitation of geographical traffic areas in the period of their realization . In: Andrea Bonoldi, Hannes Obermair (eds.): Transport and infrastructure - Trasporti e infrastrutture (= history and region / Storia e regione 25/2 ). StudienVerlag, 2017, ISSN 1121-0303 , p. 64–81, here: pp. 76–78 .


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