Ferry shutdown deepens dispute over March bridge location

The March ferry linking Austria and Slovakia has been out of service for almost three months because of low water levels, putting pressure on hundreds of commuters, ORF reported. Lower Austria is considering a bridge over the border river, but the two sides remain divided over where it should be built.

The ferry at Angern an der March in the Gänserndorf district has been suspended since the end of June because of prolonged dryness and low rainfall. Slovak workers who work near Angern or in Vienna must now take detours of up to 70 kilometres each way.

“When I take the ferry, I need 15 minutes and then I am home. Now I need an hour there and an hour back,” commuter Stanislav Zawora said. People travelling to Vienna need even longer, he added. During the summer, some people reportedly crossed the river by inflatable boat or even swam.

The disruption is also affecting the economy and tourism, said winemaker Gerhard Küssler from Grub an der March, a village a few kilometres from Angern. He has been campaigning for a bridge since spring.

The March is a 69-kilometre border river with Slovakia, Küssler said, but there is only one bridge at Hohenau, which is also closed between midnight and 5 a.m.

Normally, 700 to 800 vehicles cross the border by ferry each day. The ferry can carry six cars per trip. On Wednesday, the water level on the Austrian side was 51 centimetres, while 85 centimetres is needed for ferry operations. The Slovakian side requires only 22 centimetres, but the level there was also well below that.

The ferry has been closed for 140 days this year. Drift ice caused closures in winter, followed by foot-and-mouth disease in spring and low water levels from the end of June. A private company recently apparently tried to dredge part of the riverbed, but the ferry has not yet resumed service.

Dispute over the bridge location

Residents of Angern have been consulted twice about a crossing over the March. In 2007, shortly after Slovakia joined the European Union, they supported a bridge. Seven years later, they rejected one by a large majority.

Resident Gerhard Brei said the dispute had always been about the location rather than the bridge itself. Slovakia wants a bridge at the current ferry site, but residents rejected that option in 2014 because they fear heavy traffic would pass through the village.

In 2019, the municipality designated a corridor south of Angern, in the area known as the Zwerndorf border. Mayor Robert Meißl of the Social Democratic Party said a bridge there could accommodate everything from combine harvesters to lorries and serve the region’s needs.

Slovak authorities oppose that location because of a nature reserve. Barbora Lukacova, head of a department in the Bratislava Region, said the option was not possible for nature protection reasons and that this position had been coordinated with the European Union. She said Lower Austria and the municipality of Angern were aware of it.

The municipality of Zahorska Ves and the Bratislava Region therefore support a bridge at the ferry site. They said its weight could be restricted to protect Angern’s residents, with exceptions for emergency vehicles.

Meißl rejects restrictions of 7.5 or 3.5 tonnes, arguing that such limits could later be changed and gradually allow tourist buses, tractors or lorries to cross.

He also disputes the claim that nature protection rules would prevent the municipality’s preferred option, saying political support could make it possible. He added that municipalities do not build bridges and that responsibility lies with the federal states, calling first for a plan from Lower Austria.

For that reason, Lower Austria’s deputy governor responsible for transport, Udo Landbauer of the Freedom Party, commissioned an update at the end of August of a feasibility study from 2023 to reflect current conditions.