Transport fears force cap on ticket sales for events in Italy's Cortina

MILAN/CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy :Local organisers have been forced to cap the number of tickets on sale for Winter Olympic events in Cortina d'Ampezzo in February because of concerns over transport congestion, heightened by delays in building a new cable car to take fans up the mountain.

The issues facing the Apollonio-Socrepes gondola are the most pressing sign of the transport challenges that Italy faces as it stages a Games co-hosted by Cortina, and the city of Milan, with events spread across other parts of northern Italy.

With the Games little over two months away, work is well behind schedule on building the cable car link to carry thousands of spectators from the town centre to the Tofane Alpine Skiing centre where the women's races are being held.

CAP ON TICKET NUMBERS

In the town itself, Cortina will host curling, as well as bobsleigh, luge and skeleton in the new sliding centre.

Massimo Bortoluzzi, provincial transport councillor, said uncertainty over the cable car project and delays in preparing the collection points for spectators heading to the events have prompted a preliminary 15 per cent cut in initial spectator estimates of 200,000.

"We need to draw a line, we've come too close to the deadline and now risk problems finding drivers and shuttles," Bortoluzzi told Reuters.

Organisers have temporarily restricted the number of tickets available for events in Cortina to match the transport system's current capacity and to avoid excessive traffic, a spokesperson for the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation, the local organising committee said, without providing precise figures.

TRAFFIC TO BE LIMITED DURING GAMES

Set in the Dolomites, Cortina is one of Italy's best known winter resorts and staged the Games in 1956, but it has