Sölden Austria

Sölden Ski Resort, located in the Ötz Valley of Tirol, Austria, has four ski areas with combined annual skier visits of 1.4 million and is serviced by approximately 20,000 guest beds.

In 1993, Ecosign completed a study that determined the ski area capacity, overnight accommodation, and commercial location and capacity. To analyze the village’s traffic congestion, Ecosign also facilitated a time and motion study of traffic during peak and normal utilization periods. The objective of the study was to measure and analyze the village’s severe congestion problems, and to provide design solutions that would reduce traffic, improve the quality of life for local citizens, and improve the tourist experience. 

Ecosign subsequently presented a unique and innovative solution for the resort’s vehicular traffic and skier staging problems. The proposed solution included a new, two-stage gondola from the centre of the village, extending a pedestrian mall on the existing main street through the village core, and a two kilometre bypass road with a 650-metre long tunnel beneath a portion of the village. Ecosign’s proposal was acclaimed in Europe as the model solution for traffic and transportation problems plaguing the valleys of the European Alps. 

Twenty-two years after Ecosign’s original concept of a bypass route, the Gemeinde of Sölden undertook community workshops of the newly engineered plans and received positive feedback from the citizens of Sölden, bringing this project one step closer to realization.