TRIESTE – The Slovenian H4 expressway will again be partially closed, as already happened last year, with potentially serious repercussions on traffic between Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and Croatia during the summer.
From 5 July and for around 130 days, Slovenian concessionaire Dars plans to close the northbound carriageway of the H4 between Vertoiba and Razdrto to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. Light vehicles will be able to use the alternative route along state road 444, while heavy vehicles will have to change their routes.
The situation risks having a major impact above all on the area of the Trieste-Lisert motorway toll barrier and on the Upper Adriatic motorway network, already subject in summer to heavy tourist flows towards Slovenia and Croatia.
According to simulations carried out by Autostrade Alto Adriatico, heavy goods traffic heading towards Lisert could increase by 70%, rising from the current 3,342 daily transits to around 5,589, with peaks of more than 7,000 trucks on the most critical days, especially on Fridays.
The estimates also indicate that on 31 July total transits could exceed 33,000 vehicles, well above the threshold considered critical of 23,000 daily passages.
For this reason, the Italian concessionaire, after discussions with Dars and with Italian and Slovenian institutions, is preparing a series of mitigation measures. These include increasing staff at the Lisert toll booths, extending contactless payments to all lanes, a different management of Telepass/manual lanes and the use of safety cars with the traffic police to divert light traffic towards the A34 Villesse-Gorizia in the event of long queues.
The issue was also discussed today during a round table convened by the Prefecture of Trieste, with Italian and Slovenian institutions, law enforcement agencies and road network operators in attendance.
Friuli Venezia Giulia regional councillor for Infrastructure Cristina Amirante explained that the experience gained during last year’s critical situations will make it possible to address this new phase «more effectively», thanks to better coordination of flows and the integrated use of the regional and national road network.
The Region has also confirmed that the coordination table will remain permanent until the construction site opens and throughout the works phase, constantly monitoring traffic, safety and the management of tourist and commercial flows.