Probe into motorists blocked in Calabria

(ANSA) - Rome, January 20 - 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.