Winter closure

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Sign at the foot of the pass: The Furka is closed
Avalanche barriers to protect users of the Alpine passes from avalanches

A winter closure is a seasonal official closure of traffic routes in winter , especially in Switzerland and Austria , but also in Italy and France .

Traffic routes

In the case of higher traffic routes, especially on mountain passes , keeping the route clear all year round and protecting it from avalanches and other natural hazards would only be possible with great effort. Because of cost-benefit considerations, many passes are closed to traffic in winter. So a winter ban is imposed. Instead of a continuous lock, an hourly lock or a night-time lock can be arranged. When the route is temporarily cleared, the vehicles may have to follow a snow plow in the block or snow chains may be prescribed. This Kolonnekjøring is mainly carried out in sparsely populated areas in Scandinavia , where a road connection has to be kept open.

The winter closure at Alpine passes usually lasts from the first large snowfalls at the end of October to around Easter or Whitsun. In order for clearance to take place, there must no longer be an acute avalanche danger , as otherwise the road cannot be safely cleared with snow blowers.

Example Flüela and Julier Pass as passes without winter closure

Since the opening of the Vereina tunnel , the Flüela pass has no longer been kept open in winter, which is why the following statements no longer apply today, it is primarily intended to show as an example what speaks for and against a winter closure.

Before the opening of the Vereina railway tunnel, this pass was kept open as the last connection to the Engadin and not the Julier Pass . However, it should be noted that the Julier Pass has always been kept open whenever possible, as the connection between the Lower and Upper Engadin is also not safe for winter. Although the Julier Pass is a higher-quality road that is included in the long-distance traffic plan and is even lower, the pass was very often closed in winter. The fact that it was classified as a main road partially prevented it from being kept open in winter, as the federal government and the canton of Graubünden should have shared responsibility here . For a continuous navigability it would have had to be expanded with avalanche galleries like the Simplon Pass or the Great St. Bernhard . The following applies to main roads: Either they can be driven on for 24 hours or they have to be closed. In the case of the Flüelapass, which is valued as a connecting road, responsibility lies only with the canton and, above all, the municipalities. They were able to react much more flexibly to the current risk situation. Furthermore, despite the lack of a winter closure, there is no 24-hour duty to keep a connecting road open. That is why the pass could be closed without restrictions at night in winter. With the Julier Pass, a road of national importance, this would only be allowed in acute danger situations. The Julier was therefore completely closed until it could be re-navigated for 24 hours. As a result, the Julier Pass was regularly closed for long periods of time, while the Flüelapass could be kept open during the day. As a result, it was only possible to travel to the Engadine via the Flüela Pass. In addition, the Flüelapass is not threatened by large avalanches, but only by smaller snow fields, the potential danger of which is a lot easier to calculate. These were mostly blown up during the night. Nevertheless, on May 1, 1992, a slope avalanche tore a coach into the depths, killing four people and injuring 16 others, some seriously. The pass was already open to summer traffic that day.

The Julier Pass is still kept open today. However, if there is an acute avalanche danger, it must be closed for several days. The journey to the Engadin then takes place by car transport through the Vereina tunnel .

Legal classification

In Austria, the winter closure is a general driving ban within the meaning of the StVO and can be issued by the state government for state roads and by the mayor for local roads.

In Switzerland, the winter closure applies according to federal court rulings as a time-limited total driving ban within the meaning of Art. 3, Paragraph 3 of the Road Traffic Act (SVG).

Identification of the winter closure on maps

In Switzerland it is customary to indicate the blocking times in addition to the passport name with Roman numerals (usually in red). For example, the XI-V next to the Splügen Pass means that the pass is likely to be closed in winter from November (XI) to May (V).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article from 20M Minuten
  2. ↑ Article from the Tagesanzeiger in which the accident is listed in the list section
  3. ↑ Federal Court judgment 2P.95 / 2006 of 27 July 2006

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