Deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems in South East Europe: Current Status and Future Prospects

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are a powerful technology, not only for gaining traffic and transport benefits, such as less congestion and shorter travel times, but also for economic growth. The European Union (EU) has already published a directive (2010/40/EU) to regulate the coordinated and coherent deployment of ITS in all EU-member states. However, ITS deployment in some EU member states has yet to be integrated. According to the European Commission, South East Europe (SEE) is an area in which ITS deployment is “fragmented and uncoordinated and cannot provide geographical continuity of ITS services throughout the region.” An overview is provided of the current deployment and implementation status of ITS in nine countries of the SEE area. The results highlight the strengths and weaknesses for further ITS deployment in these countries and the level of harmonization of their national laws with the European directive, a prerequisite that could alleviate the fragmentation of the ITS provision along different regions within the nations and also at cross-border areas. Afterward, the methodology for creating national roadmaps for ITS deployment is presented as well as the final roadmaps for each of the nine countries. The findings of these roadmaps are crucial for future ITS deployment in SEE countries; the level of maturity of ITS deployment in each country has been taken into account.