Flanders freight road network : multi-actor multi-criteria evaluation of alternative routes in the Flemish Ardennes West study region. Heavy road freight transport requires a specific road network with customised sizes and dimensions. All Flemish roads cannot meet these requirements. For this reason, main roads and primary roads are categorised as freight route roads, according to the Flemish Spatial Planning Plan (RSPV). These freight road categories constitute a grid with customised size and dimension. However, regional freight can be attracted to certain areas, generating hiatuses in the grid. Under these circumstances, the freight traffic streams over roads with inappropriate dimensions, putting pressure on traffic safety and liveability. This report identifies how a specific freight road network can reduce the impact on communities caused by freight transport. In the study region Flemish Ardennes West, the bottleneck of Anzegem is considered, a municipality suffering from traffic safety and liveability problems. Several alternative routes around the centre of Anzegem have been elaborated, causing each pressure on the sustainability of the community. The sustainability of each alternative scenario will be assessed by the multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (Macharis et al., 2004; 2009). Multiple evaluation criteria, relying on preferences of different stakeholder groups, determine the impact of the different alternatives. Criteria with higher weights exert more influence in the evaluation of the different alternatives. The results of the evaluation are illustrated by sensitivity performance figures, ranking the most plausible alternatives with respect to sustainability. Results show that all alternative routes are more sustainable then the basic scenario. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting