Skip to main content

Austrian highway firm opposing larger trucks

Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long. The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long.

The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator 4178 Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due to their size and weight. Vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are thought to be at particular risk should such vehicles be introduced.

The Austrian minister for transport, Doris Bures, is also against the introduction of gigaliners to the country. The possibility of these giant trucks being introduced has also been causing concern in a number of other European nations but it is of note that a leading highway operator in Austria should be against these vehicles.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Accident prevention leading the road safety fight
    February 23, 2012
    ASECAP and its members are among many oragnisations leading the fight to improve road safety Many European organisations have pledged their support to the goal of dramatically reducing even further the number of accidents, fatalities and serious injuries on roads. And at its annual road safety conference in the Czech capital Prague, ASECAP (the European Association of Operators of Tolled Road Infrastructures), presented EU institutions, national authorities and transport stakeholders "the outstanding resul
  • Russia’s most expensive road project to commence
    January 15, 2019
    Construction work is being planned for Russia’s most expensive road, which will be built in south of the country – Eugene Gerden reports Work is due to commence shortly on Russia’s most expensive road, in the south of the country. The highway will form part of the existing 1,600km Moscow-Sochi road, according to recent statements from senior officials at the Russian Ministry of Transport as well as local analysts. As part of the project, the Russian Government, together with private investors, plans to
  • Road safety gain for Argentina
    July 1, 2024
    Argentina is benefiting from a road safety gain.
  • Challenges of NMT in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam
    September 13, 2016
    Developing safety for non-motorised transport in East Africa - Shem Oirere writes. Despite increasing national budgetary allocations for the road sector in recent years, governments in East Africa have made very low investments in non-motorised transport (NMT). This is despite the fact that both Kenya and Uganda have recently passed a policy on pedestrian and cycling safety. In Kenya, the County government of Nairobi, the country’s capital, has embraced a NMT policy, while in Uganda the government has passe