The Inn Valley Motorway or Inntal Autobahn A12 is an

autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n federal state of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

and part of

Euroroute The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Central ...

s E45 and E60. It begins as a continuation of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Bundesautobahn 93 is an autobahn in Bavaria, Germany. Route Summary It consists of two parts: one is a short track, from the Bundesautobahn 8, A 8, near the Austrian border, to the Inntal Autobahn, Inntal Autobahn (A12) in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Aust ...

on the German-Austrian border near

Kiefersfelden Kiefersfelden is a municipality with about 7000 inhabitants located in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany, on the border with Tyrol, Austria. Geography Geographical location Kiefersfelden is located in the foothills of the Alps, in t ...

Kufstein Kufstein (; ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein For ...

and runs via

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

(intersection with the Brenner Autobahn A13) to

Zams Zams is a municipality in the district of Landeck in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography The Inn River runs through Zams, which is situated in the river's basin together with its neighbour town Landeck. The geographical location is . Here, the ...

, where it transitions to the S16 Arlberg expressway (''Arlberg Schnellstraße''). It runs parallel to the River Inn and runs through the

Inn Valley The Inn (; ; ) is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The long river is a right tributary of the Danube, being the third largest tributary of the Danube by discharge. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernin ...

fresh air region (''Luftsanierungsgebiet'').

Importance

The Kufstein–Innsbruck section, together with the Brenner Autobahn and the German A93 and A8, form the main transport axis from

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

over the Alps to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

and

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. In addition the A12 links Tyrol via the so-called German Corner (''

Deutsches Eck The Deutsches Eck (, "German Corner") is the name of a promontory in Koblenz, Germany, where the Moselle, Mosel river joins the Rhine. Named after a local commandry of the Teutonic Order, it became known for a monumental equestrian statue of Wil ...

'') to

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and the

West Autobahn The West Autobahn (A1) was the first motorway (''Autobahn'') to be built in Austria, originating from plans drawn up for the so-called ''Reichsautobahn'' system. Completed in 1967, today it runs from the outskirts of Vienna via Linz to Salzburg, ...

(A1) to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The A12 was the first autobahn in Austria that was equipped with an

intelligent transportation system An intelligent transportation system (ITS) is an advanced application that aims to provide services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 's ...

. These overhead signs provide information to the motorist on every type of situation (road conditions, traffic, weather, etc.) as well as speed limits.

Environmental issues

In 2005, and again in 2011 after Austrian legislation was changed, the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

declared that rules prohibiting use of part of the A12 by lorries of over 7.5 tonnes carrying certain goods were an unjustified restriction of the

free movement of goods The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, L ...

within the European Union, one of the fundamental principles of EU law. This was despite the fact that the Austrian legislation was a response to EU directives on

air quality Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

. During the summer vacation period in 2019, every weekend from mid-June to mid-September, on the section around Innsbruck as well as on A13 (Austria)

Brenner Autobahn The Brenner Autobahn ( or , ) refers to a major European truck route that connects Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in northern Italy. Numbered as the A13 in the Austrian section, the motorway is relatively short and entirely located within the s ...

it was not allowed to leave the motorway to avoid a traffic jam. This measure was a controversial issue. The most important reason is to protect the local population suffering from the consequences of the denser traffic on rural roads leading parallel to the motorway. This kind of traffic leads to additional congestion, noise and pollution. On the other hand, local hotel and restaurant owners were worried about loss of business. Furthermore, whoever wants to avoid the traffic jam will find a pretext for his intention to leave the motorway in case of an inquiry by the Austrian police. However, there is no obligation to show a confirmation for a hotel reservation along the road.

References

External links

*DriveBestWay
Motorway A12 in Austria
{{Coord missing, Austria Autobahns in Austria Kufstein District Innsbruck-Land District Transport in Innsbruck Imst District Landeck District Transport in Tyrol (federal state)

Importance

Environmental issues

See also

References

External links