WHAT:

The economic integration of the new EU member states brought to a big increase in traffic volumes particularly with regard to private use of car transport. One of the biggest challenges is the provision of environmentally compatible and sustainable transport infrastructure for both individual and public transport in the border regions. To handle this increase, in the CENTROPE region (Central Europe: multinational region encompassing AT, SK, HU, CZ) steps had to be taken in order to establish a common transport policy and improving infrastructure. 

WHERE:

AT: Vienna-Lower Austria- Burgenland

SK: Bratislava-Trnava

HU: Győr-Moson-Sopron, Vas, Zala

CZ: Southern Moravia

HOW:

Before the introduction of the project, only stand-alone transport models existed on each side of the border and this did not support the assessment and planning of transport infrastructure investments on a sound cross-border basis.

The target of the intervention is to build a cross-border transport model for the CENTROPE region, to support the infrastructure planning process in the area co-financed via EU funds of several cross-border programmes (i.e. AT-CZ, AT-HU and AT-SK).

The project is developped around several steps: firstly, existing traffic models and data are brought together in a consolideted cross-border model. This is then calibrated by traffic measurements. Structural data about the population, the labour market etc. are gathered to calculate flows of traffic. This allows for the estimation of future flows of traffic in order to finally develop a really interconnected system of transport between the four countries.

RESULTS:

The project resulted in the creation of a intermodal model, covering private car transport as well as public transport (bus, rail, underground), bike traffic and pedestrians. In addition, the results of the study are accessible to all possible interested parties such as public authorities and public transport agencies and associations.

More information is available here.