Roadways
The motorway E45 (European designation; in Italy A 22, in Austria A 13) leading from Innsbruck via Bolzano to Verona and Modena uses this pass, and is one of the most important north-south connections in Europe. Even with the removal of customs, the long traffic jams before the Brenner Pass are dreaded by Northern Europeans who want to spend their holidays on the Mediterranean coast.
The Europabrücke (Europe Bridge), located just outside of Innsbruck and a few km north of the Brenner Pass, is a large concrete bridge carrying the six-lane autobahn over the valley of the Sill River. At a height of 180 metres and a length of 820 metres, it was celebrated as a masterpiece of engineering upon its completion in 1963.
The heavy freight traffic travelling through the Inn Valley to reach the Brenner Pass, polluting this scenic area, causes much debate in regional and European politics. About 1.8 million trucks crossed the Europa Bridge in 2004.
In order to ease the road traffic, there are plans to upgrade the railroad from Verona to Innsbruck with a series of tunnels, including the Brenner Base Tunnel under the Brenner Pass. While the official groundbreaking of the tunnel took place in 2006 (with survey tunnels drilled in the same year), substantial work was not slated to begin until 2011, and the tunnel's planned date of completion is in 2025.
Read more about this topic: Brenner Pass