Malta-Hochalmstraße (Kölnbreinsperre)

Hairpin toll road through rock tunnels to Austria's highest dam, the Kölnbreinsperre

Roughly 14km of toll road climbs the Maltatal in Carinthia past waterfalls, through six tunnels bored from raw rock and a string of tight hairpins, up to the Kölnbreinsperre, Austria's highest dam, at about 1900m. It is a dead-end drive to the dam wall rather than a pass, and the narrowest tunnel sections are controlled by traffic lights. The surface is good but the road is genuinely tight and walled in places. Mind the single-lane light-controlled tunnels, the unlit rock galleries, and seasonal opening only from roughly May to October.