Another rockfall thunders just past the Brenner motorway

Where thousands of cubic meters of rubble fell onto the Brenner motorway in South Tyrol days ago, there was another rock fall. But this time without major damage.

Atzwang/South Tyrol – The Alps in Italy and Austria cannot calm down. In Villgraten, East Tyrol, residents had to leave their farm due to falling rocks. On Monday evening (January 29th), rocks, earth and tree trunks thundered from the slopes in South Tyrol and crashed onto the Brenner motorway near Atzwang. Now there was another rock fall in the same place, a few kilometers from the state capital of Bolzano.

Rockslide in Italy: Second rockfall within a few days on the Brenner motorway in South Tyrol

On the night of Friday (February 2nd) another rockfall is said to have occurred between the cities of Klausen and Bolzano. On Monday, around 1,000 cubic meters of rubble found its way onto the Brenner Motorway road, and several passing vehicles were hit by falling rocks. This time, however, no material landed on the A22, the news agency reports Ansa.

The reason for this was a protective wall that had been built in the last few days to protect against further rock falls. Measures to limit the risk of new rockfalls were already underway. Nevertheless, rocks could almost have fallen onto the road again, as South Tyrolean state geologist Volkmar Mair explains.

According to the geologist, the protective dam is relatively high. “Towards the evening a large boulder moved and crashed into the wall,” Mair tells Ansa. “We were very lucky,” said the expert.

The northern lane of the Brenner motorway is expected to be closed until February 9th

On Friday morning (February 2), technicians inspected the rockfall site again. According to Mair, new mesh panels and rockfall nets are needed, but the work should be completed shortly.

The northern lane towards Brenner is currently closed to traffic over a length of around two kilometers until February 9th. The general technical director of the Brenner Motorway operating company, Carlo Costa, made the comments Rai South Tyrol cautiously optimistic that the road towards Brenner can be reopened by the end of next week.