Brenner Pass part of County of Tyrol (now South Tyrol), was transferred to Italy, and Italian troops occupied Tyrol and arrived at Brenner Pass in 1919 to 20. During World War II, German Führer Adolf Hitler and Italian Duce Benito Mussolini met at Brenner Pass to celebrate their Pact of Steel on 18 March 1940. Brenner Pass was part of the ratlines that were used by some fleeing Nazis after the German surrender in 1945. The motorway E45 (European designation; in Italy A22, in Austria A13), Brenner Autobahn/Autostrada del Brennero, begins in Innsbruck, runs through Brenner Pass, Bozen/Bolzano, Verona and finishes outside
Brenner Pass of above . As a result, air and noise pollution have generated heavy debate in regional and European politics. , about 1.8 million trucks crossed the Europa Bridge per year. In order to ease the road traffic, there are plans to upgrade the Brenner Railway from Verona to Innsbruck with a series of tunnels, including the Brenner Base Tunnel underneath Brenner. While the official groundbreaking of the tunnel had taken place in 2006 (with survey tunnels drilled in the same year), substantial work did not begin until 2011. Funding issues have delayed the tunnel's scheduled date of completion from 2022