TOWARDS A EUROPEAN MAIN ROAD NETWORK

Within the Maastricht Treaty the member states of the European Union agreed on establishing the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). The TEN-T is an intermodal network defined in cooperation with the member states and comprising appropriate existing as well as planned parts of their networks of the roads, railways, inland waterways, and airports. The road network should: serve international long distance transport; bypass conurbation areas; link up with intermodal connections (inland ports, airports, freight terminals, and railroad stations); and promote integration of the European Union's peripheral regions. The paper discusses the present situation of TEN-T, and examines the methodology for the functional assessment of the road network.