Austria: Weekend HGV driving ban on the A10

The Austrian Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology has introduced an HGV driving ban on the A 10 motorway on certain Fridays and Saturdays in the winter of 2024.

§ 1. The ban applies to vehicles with a MAM of more than 7.5 t

❌ on all Fridays from January 26 to March 29 inclusive, between 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
a) on the southbound carriageway in the direction of Villach between the Salzburg intersection (where the A10 branches off the A1) and the Pongau intersection, if the destination of the journey is in Italy or Slovenia or has to be reached via Italy or Slovenia and
b) on the northbound carriageway in the direction of Salzburg, between the Rennweg junction and the Golling junction, if the destination of the journey is located in Germany or the Czech Republic, or has to be reached via Germany or the Czech Republic;

❌ on all Saturdays from January 27 to March 30, 2024 from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM
a) on the southbound carriageway in the direction of Villach between the Salzburg intersection (where the A10 branches off the A1) and the Pongau intersection, and
b) on the northbound carriageway in the direction of Salzburg, between the Rennweg junction and the Golling junction.

§ 2. (1) The following are exempt from the driving bans mentioned in § 1:

◾ Transports of slaughter cattle or livestock, mail items and periodicals, supplies of drinks to tourist areas, urgent deliveries to petrol stations, catering establishments and events or repairs of cooling systems, towing services, roadside assistance, assistance in emergencies, medical care, the use of vehicles by road maintenance companies or to maintain road traffic, in road or rail construction, the use of vehicles by public security services, fire brigades, the use of vehicles for garbage collection, waste disposal, to maintain the operation of water treatment plants or the use of vehicles by companies providing regular passenger transport services, as well as journeys of vehicles used by travelling carnivals, incl. teams of lighting and sound engineers travelling to and from the venue, urgent journeys involving trucks, articulated vehicles or trucks with trailers used by the Austrian armed forces, journeys of self-propelled agricultural machines, humanitarian aid transports performed by recognized organizations as well as trips to and from the construction site undertaken for the purpose of the general renovation of the tunnel systems on the A 10 motorway between the Golling and Werfen junctions;
◾ Journeys for the exclusive purpose of transporting fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh milk and fresh milk products, fresh meat and fresh meat products, fresh fish and fresh fish products, live fish, eggs, fresh mushrooms, fresh baked goods and confectionery products, fresh herbs as potted or cut plants, and of ready-to-eat food preparations, including related empty journeys or return journeys to transport packaging of the aforementioned groups of goods. A consignment note or a loading list for individual un/loading points must be carried with each transport and should be presented on request during an inspection. It must be possible to determine the quantity of carried goods at the beginning and during the journey.
◾ Journeys performed exclusively to transport goods to or from airports (Section 64 of the Aviation Act) or military airfields that are used for civil aviation purposes in accordance with Section 62 (3) of the Aviation Act;;
◾ Journeys involving combined rail-road freight transport from the consignor to the nearest technically suitable loading station or from the closest technically suitable unloading station to the consignee and back to the next loading station, provided that a fully completed document can be presented showing that the vehicle or its superstructures (swap bodies, containers) are to be transported by rail or have already been transported; this applies mutatis mutandis to combined water-road freight transport.

(2) Excluded from the driving ban mentioned the in § 1 item 2 are empty journeys undertaken until 10 AM to the driver’s place of residence, the company’s headquarters, freight terminal, truck yard, the vehicle’s permanent parking place or another location where the employer provides the driver with a means of returning home either by public transport or in a company vehicle.

§ 3. Regulations that impose other driving bans remain unaffected.