The EUSALP Action Plan in it's Action 4 points to the vital importance of regional and local transport links, also referred to as secondary network. Secondary networks are crucial in connecting territories of the Alpine Region to the corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and thus, to contribute to the economic development of the Alpine Region as well as to guarantee the interconnection between urban and remote Alpine areas.
Against this general background, this in-depth study is initiated within the remit of EUSALP Action 4, with the objective to investigate the state of secondary transport networks and of the requirements needed for their improvement, in acknowledgment of the interdependence, multiplicity and multi-modal structure of these connections.
With the economic, social and environmental needs of the EUSALP regions and the objectives of Action 4 in mind, two main thematic areas to be investigated in the context with the secondary network are extracted:
Thematic area 1: The impacts of the secondary network on accessibility and possible measures to maintain and improve it, with view to economy and society.
Thematic area 2: The impacts of the secondary network on environment and climate, including possible measures for improvement, in particular by modal shift.
Upon invitation, a number of EUSALP AG4 members have supplied written contributions to several aspects of these main topics, extracts from which have been summarised and commented in the following chapters 1 and 2, to be also used as a basis of the present document. The originals as received can be seen in the Annex, in line with the above defined thematic areas.
For this activity a technical workshop on secondary networks with external experts was organised on 19 June 2018 in Trento, followed by the 3rd EUSALP AG4 Mobility Conference with the focus on Secondary netwoks in the Alpine Region.
The discussion paper provides input for future joint activities within AG4.
