Cross-alpine tran­sit pro­tests

Truck congestion on the Brenner autobahn. The vision of connecting north and south turned into a rejection of European transport policy. When the large highways crossing the Austrian and Swiss Alps were built, citizens' movements protesting the transalpine traffic started to form in both countries from the 1970s onwards. They found common ground in blaming EU policy but overall employed distinct methods, also with varying success, and never really joined forces. In a recent project, historians in Innsbruck, Basel and Munich made these two environmental initiatives the subject of their comparative research. It came with the promise of a better future in the 1950s and 1960s: a new highway crossing the Alps in Tyrol was meant to attract tourists to the region, facilitate travel and boost trade and the economy in general. This new artery was supposed to bring Europe closer together.