Garda Road Blockage Sparks Urgent Calls for Ferry Expansion and Emergency Solutions
“Malcesine must have the ferry dock for car transports as soon as possible. It is up to the Comune and Regione Veneto to complete the work at Retilino as quickly as possible. Only then can the Navigarda service partially mitigate the disruptions caused by traffic issues on the western Garda road, although it cannot fully replace them.”
This is the conviction of Giuseppe Mongiello, president of the Community of Garda, who expresses strong concern about the blockage of the main route, following landslides and collapses just beyond Riva in the direction of Limone. His words reflect the worries shared by all the economic operators of Upper Garda, not just the Lombard side of Lower Trentino.
Emergency Situation and Solutions
Mongiello has clear ideas regarding the emergency situation on the Brescia shoreline: “The main commitment is to technically assess the overall condition of the entire Garda road network, both primary and secondary or alternative routes, in order to fully, effectively, and comprehensively address and resolve the related issues.”
In this regard, the agency itself will organize, within the current year, an interregional conference on the subject that will bring together the competent authorities across political, administrative, scientific, and urban planning roles.” He notes with satisfaction the political and financial commitments made by the Provincia autonoma di Trento (galleries and works on the Riva-Limone section), the Anas Lombardia (safety measures and rockfall protection on the Salò-Limone segment), and the Provincia di Brescia (maintenance and improvement works on the Tignale-Tremosine-Limone mountain roads), but emphasizes nonetheless.”
“There is an urgent need for significant interventions, respecting the environment and the territorial peculiarities of the area, to find a definitive solution to the issue.” Furthermore, confronting the unlikely scenario of a long-term closure of the Trentino-Lombardy connection, which would lead to the isolation of Limone and Upper Garda, the president of the Community of Garda believes that it is necessary “to jointly undertake any useful administrative or legislative initiative to relieve the local populations from the severe economic damage that would result from vehicle access interruption on the Limone-Riva route.” The hypothetical closure of the state road for an extended period (about two years before the works are completed) would, according to Mongiello, place a highly tourism-dependent territory “in a state of emergency comparable to that of a natural catastrophic event.”
Therefore, only a specific national law could, even partially, help alleviate the economic hardship. However, concerns also extend to the entire Garda basin, whose overall image would be “greatly damaged and irreparably impoverished.” The Community of Garda is available to undertake “coordinating initiatives deemed appropriate.” Among priorities, Mongiello highlights the need to enhance the facilities available to Navigarda, “to increase ferry connections between Limone-Riva and Limone-Malcesine, even though naval transport should be considered complementary and not a substitute for the road network.” Alvaro Joppi