The Slovenian Infrastructure Agency will start renovating a kilometer-long section of the road (Erika–Vršič) and a 9-meter-high retaining wall on the Gorenjska side of the road, as well as two bridges on the Bovec side of the road, immediately after the Easter holidays. The Inkaing d. o. o. company is the contractor which will perform the work. The work to be performed is valued at 544.000 euros. Tomaž Willenpart from the Slovenian Infrastructure Agency said a partial closure of the road will be in place until the 7th of May: "After that a half-road closure will be in place until the 15th of June. Unfortunately, in that time the road will have to be fully closed for traffic for five days, that means 24 hours a day, when crucial works will have be to done on the retaining wall." The full closures of the road will happen somewhere between the 8th of May and 15th of June. The exact days will be announced on time, but it is already known that buses will not be allowed to use the road during that period (bus traffic will be redirected over the Predel mountain pass). A one-way alternate traffic regime will be set up between the 15th of June and the 18th of September, after which the road will once again be fully closed for traffic during weekdays - that's from Mondays to Thursdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and on Fridays between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Due to the specific traffic regime the renovation of the road is expected to drag on to next year.
Residents in the Trenta Valley are partly pleased with the compromise: "We're both pleased and not pleased. We're still worried about the full closure of the road. But if it's necessary, then may it be as short as possible," was the reaction of the head of the Soča - Trenta local community, Sergej Bolčina. The Infrastructure Agency says the work cannot be completed without the full closure of the road, as it is only five meters wide. The agency had to ask the Triglav National Park for permission to set-up a detour by the old retaining wall, and also acquire the consent of the owner of the land next to the road. The Municipality of Bovec is pleased with the amendments made to the traffic regime during the renovation works, and Mayor Valter Mlekuž says that the whole conflict was unnecessary: "We were not trying to accomplish things going head-first into a wall. Everything could've been solved much earlier if people were prepared for the news. But it came like a bolt out of the blue. News of the full road closure between the 10th of April and the end of June came at a meeting when we were trying to agree how to bring in additional buses in June and September over the Vršič mountain pass. And then we accidently found out about the full closure. Even now it's hard to believe that the agency did not contact me nor the mayor of Kranjska Gora."
Mr. Willenpart's response to the remarks was that the whole process was prolonged because of audit procedures and the choosing of a contractor. "If we had been able to predict when all the paperwork would come in, we would have informed all the tourism workers in the region. Considering the fact that the final approval was presented to us only recently, we couldn't have done it any sooner," Willenpart justified the agency's moves. He also added that "we visited the Municipality of Kranjska Gora four times only this year alone, where we also talked about the project, which is why I'm surprised by the insinuations that nobody was informed about the project. And I'd like to add that when we renovated the lower part of this road seven years ago there was not as nearly as much negative reaction." Those from the Trenta Valley stress that they do not oppose the renovation of the road, but that they ask for more understanding. They look to the future with optimism. "If the road was closed from today until the end of June, and that was our first information, it would have caused great economic damage to the whole Soča River Valley. Of course, we are happy with the investments in the road. We have to be optimistic, that the new road will bring even more visits. Our wish is also for the parking place at the top of the Vršič mountain pass to be reconstructed, as it is now located in a temporary gravel pit with portable toilets," the Mayor of Bovec, Bolčina, expressed the long-term wishes of his municipality.
Mariša Bizjak, Radio Koper; translated by K. J.; photo The Slovenian Infrastructure Agency