Spatial patterns of transport accessibility and traffic load in Czechia: towards a typology of the new road infrastructure impacts

Abstract

We analyse the impacts caused by the construction of new road infrastructure between 2005 and 2015 in Czechia, EU. The results provide an answer to which municipalities were affected by the construction of new road infrastructure or how the accessibility of individual regional centres changed. The study works with two key variables: a change in the accessibility of regional centres and a change in traffic load inside municipalities. The key output of the analysis is a map, thanks to which it is possible to assess the impact of the new roads in a broad context. The effects on accessibility to regional centres are much more concentrated in only a few areas where significant transport infrastructure has been lacking so far (e.g. east, southeast, southwest, or northwest part of Czechia). Impacts on traffic load are, on the other hand, distributed more evenly in space, not only on the main transport routes.