Traffic chaos at Pentecost: 40 km traffic jam on the A10 in Salzburg!

Traffic chaos at Pentecost: 40 km traffic jam on the A10 in Salzburg!

On the Whitsun weekend of 2025 there was a massive traffic collapse on the Tauern Autobahn (A10) near Golling. Loud vol.at A traffic jam of up to 40 kilometers formed with hours of waiting. Travel south in Salzburg came to a complete standstill on Whit Saturday. The backlog in front of the tunnel construction site near Golling reached around 7:00 a.m. to the Salzburg junction, which corresponds to around 30 kilometers.

At 8:30 a.m. the traffic jam stretched across the Walserberg to Neukirchen in Bavaria, resulting in waiting times of up to four and a half hours. Already on Friday, drivers needed over 90 minutes to get to the construction site in the afternoon. During the night the situation hardly eased, so many campers spent the night in supermarket parking lots. In addition, the Hiefler Tunnel was closed on Saturday morning due to a vehicle breakdown.

Traffic problems also in Tyrol and Styria

The effects of the massive volume of traffic were not only limited to Salzburg. There were also significant traffic problems in Tyrol and Styria. There were sometimes massive delays on the Fernpass route (B179) and in the Innsbruck area (A12/A13). The time lost between Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass was about an hour. Traffic was heavy on the Pyhrn Autobahn (A9), but there were no long traffic jams for the time being.

Current traffic jam and traffic information

Current traffic information shows that the Tauern Autobahn (A10) is still heavily congested. Loud staumelder-karte.at There are still traffic jams due to construction sites today, such as between Lammertal-Hüttau and Pfarrwerfen-Werfen, which were reported on June 7, 2025 at 11:26 a.m. Slow traffic from Werden to Pass Lueg was also reported. The construction site between the Ofenauer Tunnel and Helbersberg Tunnel, which will be narrowed to one lane until June 26, 2025, also contributes to the traffic load.

Significance of the Tauern Autobahn

The Tauernautobahn is a central north-south connection that not only connects Salzburg with Villach, but also represents an important transport route for German holidaymakers to Italy. The motorway also promotes trade routes between Villach, Klagenfurt and Salzburg. The expansion of the A10 includes several lanes and will continue to ensure connections to these important regions in the future.

In general, the motorway is very busy, especially on summer weekends. Historical data shows that planning for the A10 began as early as World War II and completion took until 1983. The traffic load becomes clear again through events such as the Pentecost weekend, as safety measures such as the opening of a second tunnel in 2011 also became necessary.

Statistics and traffic information

The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure regularly publishes comprehensive statistics, as documented in the publication “Traffic in Numbers”. This contains current figures and time series on mobility and traffic, including data on investments in infrastructure and traffic volumes. This information is critical to better understand and respond to transportation challenges. Further details on the published statistics can be found on the Ministry's website at bmv.de.