One of the biggest challenges in this month's Winter Olympics may be off the slopes: moving hundreds of thousands of spectators and athletes between locations across northern Italy.
While Italian authorities argue this will limit environmental impact, "the more fragmented the venue layout, the more complex the mobility demands - not only for athletes and officials, but especially for spectators, who generate the largest transport volumes", according to Robert Steiger, a professor at Innsbruck University in Austria specialising in the effects of climate change on tourism.
Olympic organisers admit that the distance creates “additional complexities," but what exactly is that going to look like for visitors?
Not least because Italy is already known for strikes and patchy public transport coverage, many are expected to opt to drive despite the heavy traffic forecast.
"With these spread-out Olympic Games, the first instinct is to say: 'I'll go by car,'" Andrea Gibelli, head of the local branch of Italy's state railways, said in November.
For authorities, he said, "the real challenge will be to offer a service that can compete with private transport".
Getting to Milan venues
Visitors who are only planning to attend events in Milan should find things easy. The city has good public transport connections and three airports, plus there will be be stepped-up train, metro and bus service, including at night.
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But even in Milan spectators are "strongly encouraged to arrive by train or to park outside of sensitive areas and then continue by shuttle", Andrea Scrocco, transport director for the Olympics, told AFP.
Getting to mountain venues
Getting to the mountain sites will be more difficult as there is no high-speed Olympic train as there was for Beijing in 2022.
For example, a spectator going to watch skiing events in Cortina and arriving at the nearest major airport, Venice, would have to take a bus from the airport to Venice train station, change to a regional train, then a bus, then walk to a ski lift and finally walk to the slopes.
A more convenient cable car to and from the entrance of Cortina has not been completed.
For spectators, car travel will often remain faster despite the risk of traffic jams, very limited access to the resorts and reservation-only parking.
Uber, a partner of the Games, could benefit from the chaos and expects its activity to double in the Olympic zones during the event, AFP reports.
What about the promised infrastructure?
Italy pledged to invest €3.5 billion in new transport infrastructure for these Games, notably on roads and railways to reach the resorts.
But most of the planned tunnels and bridges, presented and funded as the "legacy" of the Games, will not be ready for several more years.
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As of January 22nd, 40 of the 95 planned projects, including sports facilities, had been completed, according to the Olympic works delivery company Simico.
Two small tunnels were inaugurated on January 26th after many delays, to access Cortina from the plains by bypassing villages.
But the tender for the 1.5-kilometre tunnel that is supposed to ease access to the Longarone valley has only just been launched.
Between Milan and the Bormio-Livigno hub, where ski and snowboard competitions are scheduled, a new road bridge was inaugurated with great fanfare in mid-January. But only one of the two planned lanes is open.
What you need to know if you're travelling
Plan extra time for journeys to mountain venues, whatever mode of transport you use. Public transport will involve multiple connections and can take several hours from major cities.
If driving, be aware that access to resorts will be very limited and parking is reservation-only. Roads may be affected by traffic jams, especially on peak competition days.
The Swiss canton of Graubünden, through which many spectators will pass on their way to Bormio-Livigno, is asking Lombardy for four million francs (€4.4 million) for traffic and parking management, suggesting they're also expecting congestion.
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