Riva Mayor Calls for Road Repair to Avoid Garda Traffic Collapse

“I believe that in Trento they do not fully realize the meaning of a two-year closure of the Gardesana, assuming that all traffic to Limone and the Brescia area could be absorbed by the small port of Riva.” Even Mayor Cesare Malossini, a politician usually very measured in his words, is deeply worried about the prospect that the tunnel delay will turn Limone into a kind of island.

“In summer,” he adds, “the Gardesana sees 300 vehicles per hour. If they get in the way, it’s the end.” After the rockslide from Rocchetta in Riva, there is now a collapse of tourism certainty. And the mayor, rightly, is voicing concerns on behalf of the community.

Impact on the Marina and Local Decisions

The port at Piazza Catena has been designed for decades to handle substantial passenger activity, but it is completely unsuitable for managing vehicles, buses, and trucks. If the Gardesana highway is not somehow repaired, from Easter to the end of October, chaos will prevail.

This will have repercussions not only economically but also on the overall livability of the entire upper Garda area. This is why Malossini welcomes the swift decision of some councilors to already convene an “extraordinary council” next week to address the issue of the closed Occidentale road.

Overtaken by the rapid decision of the Province (Casagranda announced the construction of the tunnel and the closure of the road even before consulting local authorities on Garda), the Riva municipal government will try to take back control of the situation.

The Transportation Issue

The 75 billion euro tunnel is universally favored, it’s clear. What is less acceptable is the idea that ferries are the only stopgap solution. Couldn’t a stretch of road, perhaps one-way, somehow survive?”