A ROAD WITH „THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW“

THE ROAD UP TO THE ACHENSEE was not always as comfortable and welldeveloped as it is today. Until a few decades ago, it climbed steeply along the Kasbach from Jenbach to Maurach. It took almost 30 years to complete the new section from Wiesing to the German border.

Although the Achental valley has been an important link between Bavaria and Tyrol since the Middle Ages, it lacked good road connections. For a long time, carts were used to transport goods across the lake due to the poor condition of the roads. With the increasing use of cars and lorries, the road at Kasbach was made passable for them in 1915, but the rest of the road remained in a poor state of repair. Construction of a new road finally began after Austria was annexed by the German Reich in 1938, but the war halted the project in 1942. Instead, a tunnel under the lake became a bomb-proof production facility for the Heinkel aircraft factory during the Second World War.

Little was done directly after the war. The first phase of improvement was the opening of the Seehoftunnel on 23 September 1950 - at the time the longest road tunnel in Austria. The Inn bridge at Wiesing was completed around the same time and the access ramp to the Achensee was built. An article in the Salzburger Nachrichten in 1951 described the new road as having “the most magnificent view of the entire lower Inn valley”. The centrepiece of this section was the Kanzelkehre with its panoramic restaurant, which was state of the art at the time. The road was officially opened to traffic on 25 May 1955. It was not until 1961 that the Maurach-Achenkirch section was extensively upgraded. The final section from Achenkirch to the German border was completed three years later.