by InTrieste
Officials in Friuli Venezi Giulia met on Wednesday to assess the impact of the closure of Slovenia’s H4 highway, a key route for freight traffic, which has redirected thousands of trucks each day toward Italy’s Fernetti border crossing.
The closure, scheduled to last 100 days, stems from maintenance work by Slovenia’s highway operator, DARS d.d., and cannot be postponed. With trucks diverted to the Fernetti crossing, traffic has surged on Italian highways near Trieste, particularly around the Lisert toll plaza on the A4 toward Venice.
At the meeting, held at the Prefecture of Trieste and chaired by Prefect Giuseppe Petronzi, participants included the prefect of Gorizia, Italy’s ambassador to Ljubljana, regional infrastructure officials, local mayors, law enforcement agencies, port authorities, and representatives of Slovenia’s border police. The gathering followed a series of preparatory meetings dating back to December 2024, during which officials anticipated possible disruptions.
Data presented at the meeting showed that between August 18 and 25, traffic at the Lisert toll plaza increased by 18 percent compared with the same period last year — about 5,000 additional vehicles daily. Officials noted that this figure reflects not only the highway closure but also the seasonal spike in traffic from Italians returning from summer holidays.
To ease congestion, authorities reserved a lane at the Lisert tollgate for heavy vehicles equipped with telepass devices, reducing wait times. The Friuli Venezia Giulia regional government has also allocated funds for repaving roads near the Fernetti crossing and the RA13 highway, with work set to begin in early September. The upgrades will create separate lanes for trucks and passenger vehicles, a measure intended both to improve traffic flow and to maintain security checks, which remain in place after the temporary suspension of the Schengen agreement.
Italian traffic police have also prepared contingency measures, including a so-called “lamination protocol” that would regulate truck flows in the event of accidents, bad weather, or severe congestion between Fernetti and the Villesse interchange.
Prefect praised the efforts of police forces, including the State Police, Carabinieri, and Guardia di Finanza, for their role in monitoring traffic and managing bottlenecks, especially on local roads in Duino and along the SR14 and SP1 routes during weekends.
Despite these measures, officials acknowledged that the increased flow of trucks diverted from Slovenia’s H4 will continue to place pressure on Italy’s A4 highway and surrounding road networks in the coming weeks.
