Europa XXI (2015) vol. 28
New investment projects in the road corridors and the improvement of the potential accessibility in Poland
Europa XXI (2015) vol. 28, pp. 33-52 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2015.28.2
Abstract
The purpose of the study, whose results are reported in the present paper, was to assess the changes in the spatial accessibility, resulting from the realisation of large road investment projects in Poland in the period 2004–2013. Attention was primarily focused on changes in overall accessibility and on investment projects, constituting three chosen case studies. The method, selected for the measurement of the level of spatial accessibility and of its changes, was based on the indicator of potential accessibility. Each analysis was carried out in parallel in three dimensions: European, national, and regional. It was stated that the improvement in the international and national accessibility, which took place in Poland due to the road projects, was highly uneven in space. It was determined by the location of the routes constructed and the distribution of the demographic potential in space. The resulting distribution of accessibility became more polarised, this being inevitable in the situation of undertaking numerous projects within a short time. The projects realised served more the international and inter-metropolitan connections, while their influence on the improvement of the situation within the provinces was smaller. The study confirmed the earlier apprehensions that the motorways might produce the “tunnel effect” (understood as limitation of the service to uniquely the long-distance connections). This sort of threat is decidedly smaller in the case of the expressways. It was also demonstrated that the correct location of the nodes might have a perceptible impact on the spatial reach of the positive effects from the projects.
Keywords: potential accessibility, Poland, road projects
[t.komorn@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
[stepniak@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland
Citation
APA: Komornicki, T., & Stępniak, M. (2015). New investment projects in the road corridors and the improvement of the potential accessibility in Poland. Europa XXI, 28, 33-52. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2015.28.2
MLA: Komornicki, Tomasz and Stępniak, Marcin. "New investment projects in the road corridors and the improvement of the potential accessibility in Poland". Europa XXI, vol. 28, 2015, pp. 33-52. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2015.28.2
Chicago: Komornicki, Tomasz and Stępniak, Marcin. "New investment projects in the road corridors and the improvement of the potential accessibility in Poland". Europa XXI 28 (2015): 33-52. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2015.28.2
Harvard: Komornicki, T., & Stępniak, M. 2015. "New investment projects in the road corridors and the improvement of the potential accessibility in Poland". Europa XXI, vol. 28, pp. 33-52. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2015.28.2