1935: Grossglockner High Alpine Road

Already in the summer of 1922, the trade ministry proposed the construction of a high alpine pass for tourist traffic over the Grossglockner mountain. Shortly thereafter, Salzburg Member of Parliament Rudolf Ramek took up the idea.

The next initiative was taken by the province of Carinthia, which commissioned Franz Wallack in 1924 with the creation of a general project. Activities stalled, however, due to a lack of funds.

In 1927, the governor of Salzburg, Franz Rehrl, made it his personal objective to carry out construction of the road. After managing to avert the project’s impending failure, construction began in August 1930 under Wallack’s leadership.

The construction of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road was – along with other mountain road projects – one facet of Engelbert Dollfuss’ authoritarian government’s employment policies, skillfully staged as a competition of propaganda with Nazi Germany’s construction of the Autobahn. Twenty per cent of Austria’s total investment capital flowed into the Glockner Road project. The road became a symbol of Austria’s self-confidence as well as of its independence and ability to survive.

The opening of the penultimate stretch on September 23, 1934 was heavily affected by the Nazi putsch and the murder of Chancellor Dollfuss on July 25, 1934, and became part of the “Dollfuss mythology”. On the preceding day, Franz Rehrl was the first to drive across the subgrade on the Hohe Tauern. On August 3, 1935, in the presence of Federal President Willhelm Miklas, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road was finally opened after five years of construction. Construction of the high alpine road had created jobs for about 3200 workers. The Austrian Hillclimb Championship for Cars and Motorcycles took place just one day after the opening.