Brenner Autobahn Eastern Alps; this favourable location was therefore suitable for building the first motorway crossing among the Alpine main chains. Unlike other higher passes across the Alps, the Brenner Pass remains open all-year round and through the winter months. Construction of the motorway began in 1959 and the "Brenner Autobahn", including the Bridge of Europe (Europe's highest motorway bridge then), was partially open in 1963. The A13 begins in the south of Innsbruck from the east-west motorway A12 Inntal Autobahn ("Inn Valley Motorway"), which links Bregenz in western Austria to Kufstein near the border of Bavaria in Germany. At above sea,
Brenner Pass Counts of Tyrol within the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa made frequent uses of the Brenner Pass to cross the Alps during his imperial expeditions of Italy. The 12th-century Brenner Pass was a trackway for mule trains and carts. Modernisation of Brenner Pass started in 1777, when a carriage road was laid out at the behest of Empress Maria Theresa. Modernisation further took place under the Austrian Empire and the Brenner Railway, which was completed in stages from 1853 to 1867. It became the first trans-Alpine railway without a major tunnel and at high altitude (crossing Brenner Pass at