ITSs for Transnational Road Traffic Detection: An Opportunity for More Reliable Data

Reliable data collection is an unavoidable requisite for rigorous planning of transport policies that aim at achieving a more balanced modal split. This is particularly evident for long-distance road traffic, which in most cases involves two or more countries. Since each country adopts its own method for counting and classifying vehicles, the risk of using inconsistent data for common purposes is high. Intelligent Transport Systems may be a valid support for providing a standardized and effective method to solve this issue, provided that there is a preliminary agreement on the technological solutions and the location where to install them. This paper compares the methods currently adopted by different stakeholders and authorities in Italy and Austria to count transnational heavy and light vehicles along the Brenner corridor, which is one of the main European transnational axes in terms of traffic volumes. In line with this analysis, differences in the results could be noted, according to the adopted method and their position. Subsequently, a solution to achieve a more consistent dataset is proposed, based on common classification and shared technology to detect vehicles. This agreement is fundamental for policy purposes: the main aim of the Italian-Austrian Euregio Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino in the transport sector is to invert the current long-distance modal split by 2035, a result that can be achieved only if a correct and shared counting system is adopted. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.