The Brenner Pass links northern and southern Europe, with the Austrian stretch providing trans-Alpine access into Italy.

Communities in Austria's western Tyrol province have long complained about traffic on the route, especially trucks passing through the province.

Several thousand protesters gathered on a stretch of the road at Matrei am Brenner on Saturday, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

"We want to send a message to Brussels, to the federal government in Vienna, that things absolutely cannot and must not continue like this with the constantly increasing traffic here," organiser Karl Muehlsteiger told AFP ahead of the protest.

"This has been an issue for a very, very long time. It's been dragging on for years," said Muehlsteiger, who is the mayor of Gries am Brenner.

"It is no longer manageable for the population, no longer bearable," he added, saying pollution, noise and traffic jams were plaguing local communities like his along the highway.

To make space for the protest, authorities closed part of the highway and surrounding roads to all transit traffic from 11:00am local time (0900 GMT) to 7:00pm.

Austria's motoring club OeAMTC had warned of the possibility of "extensive traffic jams" and advised drivers to avoid travelling through Tyrol that day.

- Heavy goods traffic -

But the OeAMTC said on Saturday morning that there were "no significant traffic jams at all" and that "so far it has been very quiet".

The German motorists' association ADAC also said there were no traffic jams on the German side.

However, Italian train operator Trenitalia reported massive disruptions to rail traffic on the Brenner to Verona line during the protest due to a "malicious act by unknown persons".

Lorry traffic through the Alpine Brenner Pass has increased to the point that more than 2.4 million vehicles used it last year, according to mobility organisation VCOe.

This compares to a total of 860,000 trucks passing through neighbouring Switzerland via four transit routes, VCOe added.

In 1991, only 900,000 lorries used the Brenner Pass, according to road statistics.

Austria has for years been at loggerheads with the European Commission, which has said any ban on heavy goods lorries (HGVs) risks disrupting EU road traffic.

In 2023, the European Union's top court suspended an Austrian order banning heavy goods lorries from a stretch of the highway.

Austria has been in dispute with its EU neighbours over the environmental impact of HGV traffic ever since it joined the bloc in 1995.