From the rules to follow while traveling to the coordination of emergency response efforts: on the A24 and A25 highways, safety is built every day, including through periodic field drills.
Highway safety tolerates neither hierarchies nor shortcuts. Every kilometer must be monitored and maintained, every structure inspected, and every sign obeyed by travelers. However, there is one environment where the timeliness of interventions, the preparedness of operators, and the behavior of users take on even greater importance: the tunnel.
The A24 and A25 highways are classified as mountain highways not only because they cross the Apennines at record altitudes—over 1,000 meters above sea level—but above all because they feature a particularly high concentration of infrastructure projects. Along the route, there are 175 viaducts, stretching a total of 118.8 kilometers (more than 21% of the route), and 55 tunnels, with a total length of 70.8 kilometers (12.6% of the highway). Eight of these are over two kilometers long, including the Gran Sasso Tunnel, the longest highway tunnel on the Italian mainland.
Tunnels generally offer driving conditions that are sheltered from the weather, but they require special attention, especially when entering and exiting, when lighting and environmental conditions change rapidly. In the event of slow-moving traffic, broken-down vehicles, accidents, or fires, following a few essential rules can make a decisive difference to your own safety and that of others.
To help drivers on the A24 and A25 learn about these rules, “strada dei parchi “ has created a new page titled “Tunnel Safety” in the SAFETY section of its website, which explains the main safety features found in the tunnels and the appropriate actions to take in various situations, ranging from normal traffic conditions to traffic jams, accidents, or fires. Even stricter rules apply to travel through tunnels longer than 500 meters, which are very common on the A24 and A25 highways.
But what happens on the other end when an emergency call comes in? From that moment on, a complex system is set in motion, in which every step must be swift, coordinated, and precise. The Operations Center gathers the initial information, pinpoints the incident, and initiates the required procedures. Teams are dispatched to the scene to secure the vehicles involved and the affected section of the highway, regulate or halt traffic, and create the necessary conditions for emergency responders to arrive and carry out their duties.
Within this system, staff from “strada dei parchi“, the Fire Department, the Highway Patrol, and the 118 Emergency Medical Service all operate, each according to their respective areas of expertise. Procedures, communications, and response protocols are periodically reviewed and refined through field exercises, which are essential for strengthening coordination among all parties involved and refining the response to the most complex situations.
The video accompanying this article was filmed during a recent drill in the Roviano Tunnel on the A24 highway. Through footage of the various operational phases and interviews with officials from “strada dei parchi”’s Operations Department, the video illustrates how an emergency response unfolds: from the initial report received by the Operations Center to the management of the incident, from securing the affected section to coordinating rescue teams and vehicles to make the section safe and reopen it to traffic.
Because tunnel safety stems from the interplay of two sides of the same coin, representing two complementary responsibilities: that of the infrastructure operator, who is responsible for preventing, monitoring, and responding to incidents, and that of the traveler, who, through proper behavior, always contributes to traffic safety and the safety of themselves and other road users and, in emergency situations, to the effectiveness of response operations and the protection of all those involved.
