Salzburg Festival seeks dialogue with residents over construction

The Salzburg Festival has begun meeting residents affected by a major construction project in the city, with about 100 people attending its first information session, ORF reported. The Neutor has been closed for two and a half weeks, and work began on Thursday to cut an access tunnel to a new cavern behind the Great Festival Hall.

Lukas Crepaz, the festival’s commercial director and the person responsible for the redevelopment of the Festival District, outlined the project, which is expected to cost about 400 million euros.

Residents asked about the construction’s effects on cooling at the nearby Haus der Natur and the Festival Hall, both of which use water from the Almkanal. Project manager Michael Brandauer said the work would not affect the water supply or cooling system: “Everything will remain as it was.”

Traffic remains another concern. The Neutor closure has forced trolleybus routes to change. Traffic planner Jakob Ruzicka said punctuality on the buses fell to 60 percent in the first days, particularly around Müllner Hügel, but has since risen to 85 percent. He added that punctuality had never reached 100 percent.

The festival said it plans to continue holding meetings with residents and providing regular updates during the construction work.