Italian motorway authority ANAS
opened an investigation on Wednesday to determine responsibility
for problems in implementation of an emergency weather plan
after hundreds of motorists were blocked on the A3 highway in
Calabria on Tuesday.
Despite the fact that snow had stopped on Wednesday and the
A3 was back to normal, ANAS and the highway patrol set up
checkpoints to enforce the required snow tires or chains on
board between Padula and Falerna.
Approximately 200 motorists on the tract of the A3 between
Cosenza and Altilia Grimaldi were assisted by ANAS late Tuesday
and early Wednesday after being blocked by heavy snows.
"It's unacceptable that hundreds of motorists were blocked
for several hours on a highway," said ANAS President Gianni
Vittorio Armani.
"It's clear that something didn't work".
Armani said an initial analysis pointed to a lack of or a
delayed implementation by ANAS of checks to ensure that
motorists had the required snow tires or chains.
The checks are necessary since the A3, not being a toll
road, doesn't have barriers that would otherwise allow for a
rapid closing of the highway in case of emergency.
In Sila, temperatures on Wednesday dropped to 20 degrees
below zero with snow accumulations of up to 80 centimetres.
Lake Cecita in Caigliatello and Lake Arvo in Lorica were
frozen solid.
Meanwhile, north in Molise, schools remained closed in 20
cities with icy conditions causing difficulty on roadways.
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