Roads in Austria closed as a result of increased cross-border commuters

Thousands of people commute daily to their jobs in Austria, where they are paid twice as much as in Hungary.

Transcript

00:00A long line of cars are already lining up at dawn as they are on their way to the Hungarian-Austrian

00:08border crossing at Sopron.

00:11Thousands of people commute every day to their jobs in Austria, where they are paid double

00:16compared to in Hungary.

00:19In recent weeks, there has been a significant build-up of vehicles here, as several roads

00:24in Bergenland have been closed to reduce traffic.

00:29A few kilometers away, the road to Klingenbach was closed with a concrete barrier.

00:36The municipality said they made the decision on the grounds of protecting the peace of

00:40its residents.

00:41There were too many vehicles coming in, in the morning hours, so this road becomes crowded,

00:50exactly this one, and you have to wait like half an hour to exit to this round, and lots

00:55of people are just taking a shortcut through the village.

00:58Meanwhile, on the Austrian side, more and more municipalities are trying to prevent

01:03traffic from building up in the streets.

01:07In Akvalva, a large stone was placed on the bridge at the border crossing to prevent cars

01:12from crossing into Bergenland.

01:15And another border crossing between Akvalva and Schattendorf was closed to cars in 2023.

01:21Only those who bought a pass were allowed to cross.

01:25However, they were unable to do so regardless for months due to ongoing technical issues.

01:30As a result, dozens of cars are parked near the border crossing every day, where people

01:58opt to go to work in Schattendorf on foot or by bicycle.