Work has begun on the military road of Colle della Vecchia.

The renovation of the road between Colle delle Finestre and Colle della Vecchia, Val Chisone, is in the initial stage. After the awarding and contracting of the work, a first operational meeting has already taken place between the involved entities and the contracted company, in which the start of the construction site was set for the first days of June.

The history of the project

At the end of 2023, the “Project for hillside stabilization and trail development” presented by the management authority of the protected areas of the Cozie Alps was approved for funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2021/2027, for a total amount of €499,030.44. The actions included two lines of intervention in Val di Susa and Val Chisone. The first, of smaller scale, along the Sentiero dei Franchi in the Gran Bosco di Salbertrand Natural Park, was completed during 2024. The second, a substantial intervention with a financial framework of €447,500, concerns the restoration of the military road at Colle della Vecchia, where a landslide interrupted passage in 2020. The scale of the work and the particularly rugged and hostile environmental context at over 2300 meters altitude have caused a postponement of the works to 2025.

The environmental context

The road in question is part of the network of military routes that traverse the ridge between Val di Susa and Val Chisone from Colle delle Finestre to Sestriere, passing through Colle dell’Assietta. The section affected by the landslide is located on the side of Val Chisone, about 3 kilometers after the fork from Colle delle Finestre and a few hundred meters before Colle della Vecchia, where the route crosses a series of rocky jumps thanks to an arduous dry stone wall that supports the roadbed. It is recorded that as early as the eighteenth century, the Savoy military engineers had created a mule track here, cutting through the steep slopes at the base of Monte Pintas (2546 m), which was later transformed into a proper carriage road towards the end of the nineteenth century thanks to an extraordinary engineering effort that can still be observed today. With the development of recreational activities in the mountains recorded in recent decades, the route has seen an increase in traffic from hikers and mountain bikers attracted by the beauty of the places and the possibility of connecting Colle delle Finestre with the Provincial Road 173 of Colle dell’Assietta, the Orsiera Rocciavré Natural Park with the Gran Bosco di Salbertrand Natural Park. After the interruption caused by the landslide at the end of winter 2020, a trail has been opened that allows passage only on foot and on difficult terrain but prevents transit for electric and muscle bicycles, which, especially after the pandemic, have seen a great spread.

The type of intervention

The restoration work on the road will concern a large part of the route between Colle delle Finestre and Colle della Vecchia to allow access for vehicles that can operate on the landslide and for the subsequent reconstruction of the containment walls. The entire roadbed will therefore require safety measures and will be closed to any type of traffic. Furthermore, only after the actual work begins in the landslide area, further temporary closures of SP173 in the Pian dell’Alpe area will be assessed on days when rock falls may occur along the entire underlying slope.

Limiting inconveniences

In recent years, the closure order for the Road of Colle della Vecchia issued by the military Assets had not been substantially respected, but with the start of the works, the prohibitions must be applied rigorously for the safety of hikers and of the personnel involved. Aware of the inconveniences that the work will cause to mountain enthusiasts, the Parks of the Cozie Alps and all the involved entities will pay particular attention to communicating the progress of the work and any changes that may affect the traffic in the area. The utmost cooperation from everyone is requested to spread this information widely, also highlighting the value of a project that will again make the road accessible to bicycles and allow safe access to an area rich in nature and culture within the Orsiera Rocciavré Natural Park.