The next decade should see an expanding European Union with the Central and Eastern European countries and the Baltic States as new members. Transport is proving to be one of the key areas for integrating these countries. There are several gaps in their transport systems and it is unclear how this will affect European transport networks. The strategic planning of infrastructure investments to start to close these gaps is therefore of vital importance.

Multi-modal corridors represent costly infrastructure investments that may only be realised in the long-term through phasing. Prioritisation is thus unavoidable. Classically, economic evaluations are critical in decisions on projects. However, in the broader socio-economic and political context of network development, a more strategic assessment method is needed to aid prioritisation.