Overview
ASFINAG is responsible for the Austrian motorway network with a length of 2200 km, where one of the core tasks comprises safety of and services for road users. An important contribution to traffic safety and a high service quality lies in the provision of adequate resting opportunities. The requirements regarding design and operation of service areas along the high-level road network are strongly influenced by a combination of factors like mobility behaviour, technology and customer needs in the context of resting and consumer behaviour. Current and future changes relating to these factors lead to new challenges regarding the "motorway service area of the future" and raise a number of corresponding research questions that will be answered within the RAST2025+ project.
Based on a comprehensive evaluation of the present situation in the fields of technology and innovation, mobility behaviour as well as customer requirements and consumer behaviour, an analysis of relevant developments and trends will be conducted. Thereby, a special focus will be on the manifold interdependencies between these fields. We will identify and evaluate the relevant driving forces of change in fields like demography and society, decarbonisation (especially e-mobility), digitalization, automatization and multimodality. Also taking international approaches and developments into account, we will perform a synthesis of all relevant findings. Building on that, so called integrated trend scenarios 2025+ will be defined. In doing so, a major focus is on the question, which customer needs will be demanded at motorway service areas in the future, depending on the probable development trends, and how these requirements can be satisfied.
The RAST2025+ project will elaborate requirements regarding design and operation of future motorway service areas. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of alternative drive technologies and the new refuelling/charging situations involved. In general, we will define specific requirements regarding operational concepts, functions, facilities, design and qualities of motorway service areas, including differentiations of target groups on the one hand and of different service levels (categories of service areas) on the other hand. Furthermore, the overall network of resting opportunities along the high-level road network will be examined regarding density, categorisations and service levels. Eventually, the defined requirements will be implemented in an integrated catalogue of measures and recommendations. In addition, an exemplary concept plan for a selected site will be provided.