The European Commission has published a map detailing the nine key transport corridors that it believes will radically improve the current “patchwork” of road and rail links.
Announcing the latest development, the EU said it would triple the transport budget between 2014-2020 to €26 billion to realise its ambitions of a better connected Europe.
The nine corridors are designed to organise the current “patchwork” of roads, railways, flight paths and waterways around the continent.
Although much of the infrastructure that makes up the new routes already exists, investment is needed to complete the ‘missing links’ and relieve bottlenecks across the network.
Particular emphasis has been put on improving east-west links, with almost half of the funding (€11.3 billion) to go to countries receiving cohesion funding.
The EU is hoping to complete its proposed ‘core network’ by 2030, for which it estimates a required investment of €500 billion.
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas said: “Transport is vital to the European economy. Without good connections Europe will not grow or prosper.
“This new EU infrastructure policy will put in place a powerful European transport network across 28 member states to promote growth and competitiveness.
“It will connect east with west and replace today’s transport patchwork with a network that is genuinely European.”
The corridor through Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia needs to expedited. A new corridor from Athens northwest along the coast to Zagreb and other area cities should also be considered, funded and given priority, where rails have never existed before.