World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Vienna  - Road
Road

Austria has an excellent network of roads, with Autobahnen (motorways indicated by an 'A') between major centres and connecting to the 'E' trans-European routes. Bundesstrassen (national roads) have a 'B' prefix. Traffic drives on the right. Speed limits are 130kph (81mph) on motorways, 100kph (62mph) on main roads and 50kph (31mph) in built-up areas. Tolls are payable on a number of mountain roads, tunnels, motorways and main roads. Toll stickers, which must be attached to the windscreen, can be purchased for öS70 (one week), öS150 (two months) or öS550 (one year) from tobacconists, border-crossing points, filling stations near the border, and from automobile clubs: ARBÖ (website: www.arboe.or.at) and ÖAMTC (website: www.oeamtc.at).

The minimum driving age in Austria is 18 years. Seatbelts must be worn and children under 12 years may not sit in the front seat. The legal maximum alcohol to blood ratio for driving is 0.08%. Third-party insurance is obligatory. Winter tyres are essential during the wintertime, and travellers who require snow chains may hire them at major border-crossing points. Information on road conditions is available in English daily 0600-2000 from the Austrian Automobile Club (tel: (01) 711 997; fax: (01) 713 1807). Regular road reports in German automatically interrupt the chosen radio station on car radios.

Emergency breakdown services:
ARBÖ 123
ÖAMTC 120

Routes to the city: The Westautobahn (A1) connects Vienna to Linz, Salzburg and Western Europe. The Südautobahn (A2) leads to Graz, Klagenfurt and the Italian border. The Ostautobahn (A4) passes the airport on its way to Bratislava and Budapest. The A22 connects the city to Prague, in the north. Driving times to Vienna: from Linz - 2 hours; Budapest - 2 hours 35 minutes; Salzburg - 3 hours.

Coach services: Eurolines Austria (tel: (01) 712 0453; fax: (01) 7120 45320; e-mail: info@eurolines.at; website: www.eurolines.at) offers coach services throughout Europe, departing from the bus station Wien Mitte (U-Bahn Landstrasse/Wien Mitte). Services within Austria are run in partnership with Blaguss Internationale Buslinien. National services are also run by Postbus (website: www.pta.at/postbus) and a number of private operators. Timetable information (tel: (01) 71101) is available 0700-1900.



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