Cross-Border Traffic Management for Non-Recurrent Events in the Central European Alpine Region

Abstract

This article presents a cross-border traffic management framework to overcome problems based on major non-recurrent traffic events such as large-scale road accidents or total road blockages by landslides or extreme weather conditions impacting on traffic flow in the central European Alpine region (i.e., Austria, Bavaria, Northern Italy and Switzerland). The research on which the article is based aims at creating and testing the feasibility of deploying Euro-Regional Traffic Management Plans (TMPs) in case of such incidents to reduce the negative congestion impacts and mitigate disruptions in traffic flow. It adopts an integrated cross-border approach covering strategic and tactical transport management measures within and between the central European Alpine region taking into consideration both the technical and institutional issues involved in cross-border traffic management. The research illustrates the current traffic management situation and the possibilities and prospects for integrated Euro-Regional transport management in the Alpine area using both a scenario-based and model-based approach to develop and validate TMPs. The preliminary results of the study provide a justification for investment by national and European authorities to integrate dislocated transport management measures into regional and Euro-regional transport management strategies. The results show that the approach developed here is applicable for full-scale validation and implementation across other trans-European regions.