Wurzenpass road
| State road B109 in Austria | ||||||||||||||||
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| Basic data | ||||||||||||||||
| Overall length: | 7.5 km | |||||||||||||||
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State : |
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Course of the road
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The Wurzenpass Straße (B 109) is a state road in Austria . It has a length of 7.5 km and leads in the tri-border region from the Gailtal to the Wurzenpass . The road has a gradient of up to 18% ( secured by a single escape road ) and has only been of tourist importance since the opening of the Karawanken tunnel .
history
After the Kunststraße was opened in 1734, the Wurzenpass developed into a busy road.
During the Cold War , from 1963 onwards, strong defensive positions were built along the road and mainly manned by militiamen who were grouped into the "Sperrkompanie WURZEN / 73" (the number 73 stands for the Landwehr Tribe Regiment 73 from Villach ). In an emergency, the defensive battle should have started at road kilometers 6.93 (immediately before a steep incline and just before the Slovenian border) - this is exactly where an original T-34 tank was posted in front of an anti-tank lock in 2009 as a reminder . In addition, the B109 was prepared in five places with steel elements in sunk shafts and blasting tubes in order to block it permanently, as signs remind us of this today.
The defenses in their original condition (extensive positioning system, bunkered Centurion armored turrets including 10.5 cm anti-tank gun, anti-aircraft system with heavy machine-gun, combat cover, connecting trenches, shelters, etc.) were declared the Wurzenpass bunker museum in 2005 and can be viewed freely.
B109 Wurzenpass road
Signpost at the Riegersdorfer Chapel
Kilometer stone in Riegersdorf, market town Arnoldstein
Original T-34 on the roadside, just before the border crossing to Slovenia (part of the bunker museum)
18% gradient followed by a sharp left turn and escape road
Hotel on the road to Wurzenpass (1970)
Web links
| B109 | Like the other former federal roads, Wurzenpass Strasse was part of the federal administration. Since April 1, 2002, it has been under state administration and continues to have the B in the number, but not the name Bundesstraße. |