Last Friday 31 May in Bolzano was an announced disaster, a day in which traffic went haywire due to strikes, bad weather and a strong influx of tourists. In the aftermath of yet another hellish day for the city’s roads, CNA summed up how much the delays cost its associates: “Productivity stopped. Thousands of euros lost. Businesses cannot pay the heavy price for years of non-decisions. Let’s improve at least in a short time communication to companies and citizens“, Claudio declared in a press note Claudio Corrarati, president of CNA Trentino Alto Adige, which reports the experience of several South Tyrolean companies” a construction company from Bolzano was supposed to work yesterday on a construction site in via Brennero. Reaching him, however, was impossible. The vehicles were stuck in the huge traffic jam that paralyzed the city. “Out of 8 hours of work, the risk was to have my workers queuing for three. I have decided to close the construction site, with a loss of around 1000 euros“, explains the entrepreneur who then provocatively adds: “I should have asked for the CIG”. Things didn’t go any better for a printing company that had to go to Laives to meet a client. Travel time yesterday from the town to the industrial area of the capital: 58 minutes. “It’s hard to work like this,” says the owner. Another artisan company, also in the construction sector, says that it had to leave six vehicles parked. “Productivity blocked. The traffic cost us between 4,000 and 5,000 euros.” Yesterday (Friday) was a black day for traffic, but an equally black day for the city’s economy.
CNA Alto Adige Suedtirol takes stock and estimates a total loss of thousands of euros. If, as has been reiterated for years, decades of “non-decisions” are weighing on the road system and are not easy to recover in a short time, what the trade association of crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises is asking for is that we can work in time tight at least on timely communication to companies. “We know – states President Corrarati – that until we have the necessary infrastructure in the South Tyrolean capital, these situations will continue to repeat themselves. So let’s speed up at least on digitalisation to inform entrepreneurs, as well as citizens and tourists, promptly. We have seen this in the last few days with what happened with the Google Maps error in the Vipiteno area. Drivers are increasingly relying on technology to choose their routes. With the exception of a few errors like the recent one, digital systems work and allow a large number of people to be reached simultaneously and quickly.
With an alert system via SMS, with preventive communication, the day before the days that promise to be difficult, which in real time would avoid clogging up the telephone lines of the municipal police command, companies would be given the opportunity to reschedule the own business, avoiding suffering economic losses and allowing citizens and tourists to choose the best routes. It is no longer the time for mutual accusations – concludes Corrarati – it is the time to act and to find some solutions immediately to ensure that days like yesterday and May 31st remain just a bad memory.”
Opening image: photo Venti3
