Skip to main content

Develop transport infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe, say MEPs

Maximising the use of EU funding is needed to reduce disparities in infrastructure development between Central and Eastern Europe and the rest of the EU, MEPs say in a resolution voted in the European Parliament on Tuesday. The focus should be on completing the TEN-T corridors, bridging missing links, removing bottlenecks and improve connections between different modes of transport. So far most of the transport infrastructure projects planned to be financed by European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFS
October 26, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Maximising the use of EU funding is needed to reduce disparities in infrastructure development between Central and Eastern Europe and the rest of the EU, MEPs say in a resolution voted in the European Parliament on Tuesday. The focus should be on completing the TEN-T corridors, bridging missing links, removing bottlenecks and improve connections between different modes of transport.

So far most of the transport infrastructure projects planned to be financed by European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) are in Western Europe and use of EU funds has not always been maximised and MEPS stress the need for capacity building and technical assistance and a greater focus on CEE transport infrastructure projects.

They say that joining up the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network, including projects such as Via Carpathia and Rail Baltica, are important for the economic growth of regional centres, and development of cross-border road and rail connections is essential.

Improving connections between different transport modes would help reduce prices for passengers and freight transport and address ecological and social concerns, they believe. Maritime ports and airports best serve economic development of CEE if they are hubs in an integrated multimodal transport system interconnected with rail infrastructure.

In addition to new infrastructure, EU investment should support modernisation of existing road and rail infrastructure and MEPs ask member states also to ensure continuous navigability of inland waterways.

MEPs state that the quality of road infrastructure has a direct impact on road safety and add that road safety and the needs of cyclists should be assessed when constructing and modernising roads.
UTC

Related Content

  • July 17, 2012
    US economic stimulus package highlights ITS technology
    US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in
  • November 7, 2014
    White Paper focuses on British Columbia infrastructure needs
    With the economic prosperity of British Columbia and Western Canada relying increasingly on global trade and our ability to deliver goods to foreign markets, the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC) has released Building BC for the 21st Century: A White Paper on Infrastructure Policy and Financing in advance of its second annual BC Business Summit today. The paper examines the existing infrastructure networks – including transport, utilities, telecommunications, hospitals and schools – and their
  • February 17, 2017
    New FIA Region I policy position on road infrastructure and tunnel safety
    FIA Region I has welcomed the European Commission’s plan to revise and merge the road infrastructure safety management directive and the directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels since many of the problems that road users face today are linked with poor maintenance of road infrastructure. FIA Region I believes that road management authorities should be obliged by the EU and member states to ensure a minimum level of road maintenance. A well-developed and maintained road network enables safe, e
  • November 13, 2012
    Traffic to flow freely over world’s widest bridge
    Pete Goldin reports on a new Egis project in Canada, providing open road tolling operations for the widest bridge in the world. A bridge can present a bottleneck in a system of roads or it can support the smooth and unobstructed flow of traffic. Much depends on the bridge design, surrounding infrastructure and tolling system. By adding lanes and deploying open road tolling (ORT), the new Port Mann Bridge located in the metropolitan Vancouver area in British Columbia, will alleviate congestion at one of the