The core trans-European transport network (TEN-T) of fast roads is gaining ground and achieving positive results for travellers, such as shorter travel times and more motorway mileage, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). EU funding and the European Commission’s actions have contributed positively to these results, but most central and eastern Member States still lag behind and only some 400 km of new TEN-T roads have been completed with EU support since 2014. In addition, seamless road travel along the network is hampered by incomplete cross-border sections and poorly coordinated parking and clean fuel infrastructure, while insufficient maintenance by Member States puts the network’s condition at risk in the long run.

Roads account for the largest share of EU passenger and freight transport. By 2030, the Commission aims to complete almost 50 000 km of motorways and express roads covering the nine core TEN-T corridors and all major EU traffic routes. Since 2007, it has granted Member States around €78 billion to build new roads and revamp existing ones, including around €40 billion for those on the network.

The auditors assessed the progress made – and the Commission’s role – in completing a fully functioning TEN-T core road network. They also checked Member States’ contribution to road maintenance and visited Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain and Poland.

“Roads play a significant role in linking EU countries and regions, thus contributing to their economic activity, development and growth,” said Ladislav Balko, the ECA Member responsible for the report.
“The EU core road network is making progress, but is not yet fully functional”.

Around 3 100 km of motorways were built from 2007 to 2017 with EU support, which helped to make travel faster, safer and better. However, of some 2 000 km of new motorways planned in the 2014-2020 period, less than 400 km had been completed by the time of the audit – in late 2019. The auditors point to a gap between the level of core network development in western and central/eastern Member States.

The Commission has played an important strategic role in prioritising the completion of the most important traffic routes: it has introduced the core network and corridors in the EU regulations, placed conditions on funding and pushed Member States to prioritise the TEN-T network in their planning. Nevertheless, Member States set aside for the core network only a third of the available EU funding for 2014-2020, even though in most central/eastern Member States – major beneficiaries of EU structural funds – the network had suffered from low completion rates.

The Commission does not always monitor the entire core network and lacks intermediate milestones to accurately assess progress and make reliable forecasts as to whether it is likely to be completed by 2030. These monitoring weaknesses, as well as untimely and unreliable data from the Member States, undermine its ability to take timely corrective action if needed.

The auditors warn that national maintenance budgets are steadily decreasing, rather than increasing in line with the growing infrastructure and ageing crucial links. Even though this may have an impact on whether the network is fully functional by 2030, the Commission does not have tools to verify whether Member States have a solid system for ensuring proper road maintenance.

The auditors recommend that the Commission prioritise investment in the core road network, enhance monitoring arrangements, and strengthen its approach to ensure adequate maintenance of the growing network by Member States.

Source: ECA