WRITTEN QUESTION E-2732/01

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(5 October 2001)

Subject: The SS 131 road linking Torres, Sassari and Cagliari

The SS 131 between Porto Torres, Sassari and Cagliari, the main road link between the north and south of Sardinia, has for many years been inadequate and unsuitable to meet the present needs and is very dangerous because the lanes are narrow and there is a great deal of heavy goods traffic.

The modernisation work being carried out on this road(1) is, however, highly controversial. The projects entails the pointless total destruction of the existing carriageway (about 17 metres wide) and its total reconstruction at a higher level, with new gradients, less steep slopes and a carriageway more than 34 metres wide (4 lanes 3,5 metres wide, two hard shoulders 3 metres wide, a central reservation 2 metres wide, two service roads for local use, each with two lanes in both directions, accounting for another 12 metres). Furthermore, although the work has barely started, it is causing great inconvenience for road users, with unexpected, badly sign-posted detours onto improvised single-lane roads, creating the conditions for serious and even fatal accidents.

Can the Commission ascertain:

1. whether an environmental impact procedure has been carried out for the projects in question;

2. whether the records of this procedure indicate any concern for the devastating impact of the works, which divert heavy traffic onto a temporary single-lane road;

3. whether at the planning stage the investigating authorities ever assessed the possibility of bringing the road up to motorway standard by simply doubling the width of the existing road, without destroying the existing carriageway, which has substantially increased the cost of the infrastructure for the local authority? In other words, has the possibility of building the motorway on two separate carriageways, only one of which would be newly built, the other being created from the four existing lanes, been considered;

4. whether any Community funding was granted for this modernisation work? If so, does the Commission not consider that an inquiry should be opened to ascertain why the existing infrastructure was destroyed;

5. with regard to the sections still at the planning stage, in particular beyond Oristano/Macomer and in the vicinity of the Olbia junction, whether the Italian Government and

ANAS (National Roads Authority) have assessed the technical feasibility of coordinated road-rail planning, allocating a proportion of the new motorway carriageway to a completely new railway line, which could be built at practically no extra cost and environmental impact, since they are already included in the cost of the motorway(2)

(1) The Sardar-Villanovaforru section, from km 47 to km 58 Lit 50 billion; the Mogoro section, from km 58 to km 65 Lit 58 million; the Uras stretch, from km 65 to km 69,5, first and second sections Lit 39 + 35 billion; the Uras-Macomer stretch, second section, from km 75 to km 79 Lit 34 billion.

(2) Except for a 100 km section between Cagliari and Oristano, the Sardinian railways (belonging to the Italian State Railways network) currently have commercial speeds of less than 70 km per hour!.

Supplementary answerby Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(26 April 2002)

Community part-financing for the road in question was granted under the Objective 1 Operational Programme Infrastrutture di trasporto stradale (Road Transport Infrastructure) for the 1994-1999 programming period.

The Italian authorities, and in particular the Azienda nazionale autonoma strade (ANAS) as the authority responsible for project implementation, have stated that the environmental impact procedure was properly observed and did in fact cover the construction stage. Given the low traffic volume, these authorities considered that the procedure need not cover the impact of diversion onto temporary routes. Further, it has been possible to use some parts of the old road, thus permitting dualling of the infrastructure over a number of stretches. No integrated rail/motorway infrastructure has been envisaged: the planning specifications for the project did not allow for this possibility.

For the current 2000-2006 programming period, at the meeting on 19 December 2001 of the Monitoring Committee for the Transport OP the Commission asked the managing authority for the programme to check on the safety and service implications of the construction sites for the new projects proposed for part-financing. The Commission also strongly pressed for project selection to be based on better integration of road and rail transport.