Analysis of the external costs of heavy traffic on the motorway and expressway network in Austria.

The new EU Road Costs Directive creates new possibilities for the design of road user charges in the European Union. In the future, the actual costs of transport, which are caused by air pollution, noise pollution and the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), can be better taken into account. For the charging of these so-called external costs, the previous maximum values have been replaced by reference values, which can also be exceeded if appropriate evidence is provided. The study shows that in Austria the external costs of heavy goods transport on the high-level road network exceed the reference values of the Directive. A separate volume structure was developed for the calculation, which makes it possible to quantify the environmental effects of heavy-duty vehicles on motorways and expressways.