Tube opened as a diversion

In 1949, the market town had already sent the first letter of request for a bypass to the Linz state parliament. Ignoring the no-entry signs, cyclists have been illegally pedaling through the already completed, 65-meter-long “Tunnel I” under cover of darkness. The Ennstal community is so excited about the bypass, which will bypass the town center with two large roundabouts above ground and two tunnels underground. Since Monday morning, motorists have also been able to trundle along the freshly tarred asphalt road flanked by barriers and construction site signs through the short tunnel at the start of the 1.2-kilometer-long route, which is not actually due to open to traffic until next year.

The construction site of the much longer “Tunnel II” at 680 meters, where the breakthrough has long since been made and the rubble has been cleared from the mountain, would have required a total closure of Hollensteinerstrasse, the connection to neighboring Lower Austria, for weeks. “Totally impossible!” said Mayor Gerhard Klaffner (SP) and found a solution. “Tunnel I” was completed ahead of schedule and used as a diversion for the sake of simplicity. It will then be closed again and opened next year with the complete bypass. Meanwhile, a lot of photos of maiden voyages through the tunnel are already circulating on social media.