Scope Sustainability for Autostrada del Brennero is more than a goal - it’s the leitmotif spanning all its projects across the motorway’s 314 km. “An idea which is part of our DNA” The A22 motorway was built with cutting-edge solutions to nestle between narrow Alpine valleys and then rejoin the valley in a matter of just a few kilometres. Protecting these ecosystems has always been a key priority. So much so that the company, considering the increasing traffic, started thinking how to shift transport from the motorway without affecting the environment while maintaining motorway efficiency. The result? An idea which came about in the 1990s: leveraging the railway. An intuition which was nurtured over time and which resulted in today’s Gruppo Autobrennero being the second freight operator in Italy. The project to make the A22 in a Green Corridor was developed to reconfirm the concession to manage the A22. It’s at the heart of the 7.2-billion-euro investment plan approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and an integral part of the Corridor strategy. The concept of “corridor” implies more than a motorway and railway: it rests upon the notion of combining two modalities into one intermodal solution which will expand further with the Isola della Scala, the Trento Logistic Centre, and the addition of waterways with the Valdaro Harbour. Today, the Group employs nearly 500 employees across its companies which manage nearly 20,000 trains a year. A veritable respite for the environment as the figures above represent a saving of 200,000 tons of CO2. A sizeable share of the funds is earmarked for developing sustainable mobility. Over the next years, the A22 aims to expand its network of charging stations as well as installing eight new green hydrogen production and distribution infrastructures besides the existing one in Bolzano Sud – the first ever built in Italy in 2014. The company will also invest in solar energy and in other green fuels such as LNG and CNG. Sustainability spans all areas in the company, so much so it understood the urgency of installing sound barriers in the most critical areas of the motorway even before the Italian legislation took action. And the company continues to improve and expand them. Sustainability means expanding the rainwater collection and treatment systems. Sustainability means awarding additional points in tenders to whoever follows green practices. Sustainability equals digitalisation – investments are being made into connected and cooperative driving, with countless projects aiming to improve the traffic flow while increasing its efficiency and lowering emissions. Green Corridor Fighting environmental pollution is a global commitment which European institutions and companies have supported with numerous activities. Everyone can and should contribute as much as they can. While motorways don’t pollute, the cars driving on them do, which is why Autostrada del Brenner has been thinking about sustainable mobility for quite some time. Today, it has become the focus of its 7.2-billion-euro investment plan approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The goal is to make the A22 the first Green Corridor in Europe: a net-zero emission motorway. The term “corridor” hints to one of this initiative’s pillars: intermodal transport. The company’s far-sighted plan in the 1990s to shift traffic to rail to free up the A22 has become an intermodal ambition joining motorway and railway into one single and integrated system. A system where the motorway is equipped with more technology to guarantee services for net-zero vehicles and the railway can transport more goods, decisively contributing to sustainability. This ambition will be complemented by integrating waterways thanks to the development of Valdaro Harbour. Environmental transition is another key pillar of the plan, implemented across different initiatives: from boosting the e-vehicle infrastructure by installing eight new green hydrogen production and distribution centres and new electric charging stations, through adding a third dynamic or real lane without extra construction work, to sustainable redevelopment plans of the service stations and increasing the sound barriers. Even the company’s technology investments focus on net-zero emissions: the A22 has 68 Road Side Units (RSU), making it the most avantgarde Italian motorway in terms of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). The aim is to turn the traditional motorway into a digital one, creating the conditions for interconnected and autonomous driving. Here, vehicles and infrastructures will be able to communicate, enabling speed changes based on real-time traffic flow, resulting in fewer congestion and emissions.
