The problem of quality,
size and amount of infrastructure is different from EU Member State to Member State. Even within Member States there can be a big difference
in needs and access to sufficient budget. In densely urbanised areas, it is
sometimes difficult to find space and stakeholder support for new
infrastructures. A type 1 or 3 solution is than the most appropriate. There is
a general expectation, probably close to reality, that most new EU Member
States cities will work in the next years and decades on more type 2 solutions.
We must bear in mind
that new large-scale infrastructures are expensive. There is the cost of the
infrastructure itself, the cost of the expropriation, the planning and legal
costs, the financial cost (mostly very long term investments involving large
loans and mortgages). Next to this takes a well-organised planning process a
lot of time. Stakeholders involvement is important and in many cases legally
obliged (Aarhus-Convention and SEA Directive).
Air quality management
is never the first reason for a local authority to plan new large-scale
infrastructure. Decongestion, economic development and job opportunities are
the main driving forces for this. In the planning and the strategic
environmental assessment of the project, air quality should be taken into
account, through a well developed, inter-modal and fit-to-scale modelling of
traffic flows and air quality.
Although there is a
growing interest in the improvement and promotion of inland waterways to reduce
road freight traffic, the air quality gains at this moment depends strongly on
the quality and age of ships and the fuels the ships use. Standardisation of
engines and fuels is only starting to be introduced in shipping.
It proves to be very
difficult to keep other spatial developments away from new infrastructures.
Infrastructures built to decrease nuisance, will in the long-term cause
nuisance to the spatial developments they have initiated.
It also proves to be
difficult to keep traffic away from new infrastructures. This is called the
fill-out effect. In this way, new infrastructures get sometimes more crowded
(and more polluting) than planned.
Notwithstanding several
considerations that can be risen against new
infrastructures, there are many situations where a new road, motorway or tunnel
has more advantages than disadvantages. The EC transport policy itself is, in
some cases, strongly in favour of new massive infrastructures: a very good
example is given by the Trans European Network for Transport (TEN–T). In this
case the evident political and economic advantages of the new structures play
the role of driving forces.
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