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European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
  • Project

Transforming cross-border traffic in Central Europe with ITS

people looking at screen to monitor live traffic situations
AustriaTech / Damaris Gruber

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are designed to monitor, evaluate, and manage transportation networks to improve safety and efficiency. Using real-time traffic data, ITS technology can suggest alternative routes to avoid traffic jams, pinpoint locations for emergency responders, update speed limits based on weather conditions, and much more. 

In the European Union, a harmonised and synchronised ITS plays a crucial role in improving cross-border traffic and transport. With over €32 million in funding from the CEF Transport programme, ITS is helping to improve traffic management and foster cooperation in Central Europe.

The X4ITS project bring together public authorities, cities, public transport operators, rail suppliers, road administrations and traffic information service providers from Eastern and Central Europe. Their goal is to develop a connected ITS road network along the Central and Eastern corridors of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). 

By sharing data along the entire corridors, partners will provide high-quality, real-time information services for end-users. This collaboration will improve cross-border traffic and transport through harmonised ITS applications and C-ITS services, which enables effective data exchange via wireless technologies, allowing vehicles to communicate with each other, with road infrastructure, and with other road users.

The X4ITS initiative builds on years of work, starting with the Corridor Project, followed by Crocodile 2 and Crocodile 3, alongside other Crocodile Projects in Croatia and Hungary. 

In the Crocodile 2 project, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, worked together to improve cross-border traffic and transport through implementing harmonised and synchronised ITS applications. This effort included the installation of over 2,300 new cameras, the upgrade of 14 traffic control centres, and the creation of more than 500 truck parking spaces. These ITS implementations covered over 4,200 km of TEN-T road sections. 

Crocodile 3, which involved Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, focused on implementing 14 cross-border traffic management plans and establishing 5 national access points. New services were developed, including dedicated websites and smartphone apps in Austria and Italy, along with three information points and a call centre. These services covered more than 2,500 km, providing road users with real-time information.

One of the project's standout achievements occurred in 2016, when Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, and Slovenia became the first countries in Europe to share a common tool for implementing a Cross-border Intelligent Transport System. By using the same data format (DATEX II), these countries were able to share and respond to live traffic information in real time.

More information

The works along the Corridor have been funded by CEF Transport under seven distinct but complementary projects: