The History Since 1945
The repairs and extension of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Following the start of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, there was a drop in the flow of annual tourists, which had in the meantime risen to just on 375,000 (Wallack estimated an annual number of visitors at 120,000 in 1935).During the war years between 1940 to 1944, a total of only 27,000 people visited the Glockner Road.
The Glockner Road suffered severe damage through the use of tanks,
inexpert snow clearing by the occupying forces, by the scattered
refugees in the confusion of the war years and severe weather
conditions. Thus the first task after liberation in 1945 was the repair
of the road to guarantee safety for traffic.
This and the foreseeable development of the road emphasised the need for modernising the Glockner Road.
The target was to widen the road from 6m to 7.5m – in all valley locations to 8m – to extend the radius of the bends from 10m to 15m and to raise the average speed from 40 to 70km per hour, to construct parking spaces for 4,000 in place of 800 vehicles, and thus increase the capacity of the road to 350,000 vehicles.
In 1953 six per cent of the upgrading quota was fulfilled, and already 31 per cent in 1959.
Additional tasks became very evident for the safety of traffic and for extending the season: avalanches and rock falls, relocating the toll points, repairs to the parking facilities and other buildings.
Such great investments delayed the upgrading of the Glockner Road. Despite difficult conditions – oil-price shock, recession, lack of tourists, opening of the road through the Felbertauern and the Tauern motorway – by 1980 the association was able to pay off all foreign loans.
The Hohe Tauern National Park and Ecological Responsibility
In 1971 the provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol agreed at Heiligenblut to the establishment of the Hohe Tauern National Park. Due to the changed image and positioning of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road PLC from a road association to a services enterprise, the association defined the framework conditions for economic operation within the sensitive nature of the National Park as a new business model.The economic exploitation of nature within the National Park is subject to clear norms.
In 1991 the Grossglockner High Alpine Road PLC was distinguished for
the already realised ecological measures with the “Province of Salzburg
Nature- and Environmental Protection Prize”.
Design for tourism of the Glockner Road – more than just a road.
The natural environment of the National Park, and the wide range of services offered clearly distinguishes the Grossglockner High Alpine Road from other roads. The Glockner Road today is the road into the National Park, an excursion experience with the opportunity to take a unique ecological journey of discovery.
A road is never finished – new tasks and responsibilities
Because something better always surpasses what is good, a road can never be finished, and that also means the Glockner Road. It requires the best technology and ecologically demanded standard, respectively, to maintain its character and its position as the high-alpine road for tourism in the Hohe Tauern National Park.
Design for tourism of the Glockner Road – more than just a road.
The natural environment of the National Park, and the wide range of services offered clearly distinguishes the Grossglockner High Alpine Road from other roads. The Glockner Road today is the road into the National Park, an excursion experience with the opportunity to take a unique ecological journey of discovery.
A road is never finished – new tasks and responsibilities
Because something better always surpasses what is good, a road can never be finished, and that also means the Glockner Road. It requires the best technology and ecologically demanded standard, respectively, to maintain its character and its position as the high-alpine road for tourism in the Hohe Tauern National Park.