A strategic planning methodology

The aim of this paper is to develop a method for strategic transport planning, which can be applied from the local up to the international level. A newly developed strategic transport plan is verified in comparison to four strategic transport plans, i.e. on the national level: Austria's Generalverkehrsplan-sterreich 2002, the German Bundesverkehrswegeplan 2003, and from Switzerland the Sachplan Schiene/V [BAV, 2002. Sachplan Schiene/V--Konzeptteil (Teile I bis IV and Anhnge)--Vernehmlassungsentwurf, September 2002, Bern, Schweiz, Bundesamt fr Verkehr] and the Sachplan Strasse [Astra, 2002. Der Sachplan Strasse, September 2002, Bern, Bundesamt fr Strassen, Bundesamt fr Raumentwicklung]; on the international level, the EU White paper on transport policy [European Commission, 2001. White paper--European transport policy for 2010: time to decide. Technical Report, EU]. The methodology is based on a combination of control theory and hierarchical systems theory, which the former provides a stringent-ordered structure of the complexity between objectives, measures and indicators and the latter a consistent hierarchy for the involved topics and issues. The method allows an assessment and comparison with the above mentioned plans, which is required if a consistent transport strategy should be achieved between these levels.