Skip to main content

Experts call for road pricing instead of a ring road for Copenhagen

Danish traffic experts are urging politicians in Copenhagen to opt for road pricing instead of the planned ring road. They point out that GPS-based road pricing is more cost efficient than a ring road, and can be introduced in just three to five years.
April 24, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Danish traffic experts are urging politicians in Copenhagen to opt for road pricing instead of the planned ring road. They point out that GPS-based road pricing is more cost efficient than a ring road, and can be introduced in just three to five years. It would also be a fairer system since the fees will be determined by both traffic congestion and distance. Harry Lahrmann, lecturer at 5189 Aalborg University concludes that a ring road will mostly affect those living outside it who have errands within the city, and will not necessarily reduce CO2 emissions. Road pricing will however reduce emissions since it will cut the volume of traffic.

Meanwhile, the Danish transport minister is expected to take measures to reintroduce a scheme that allows electric cars to park free of charge in Copenhagen. The exemption from parking regulations for electric cars had to be discontinued on 1 December 2011 as it proved to be illegal. The new regulations are expected to be introduced in the first half of 2012.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road user charging, the way to highway investment?
    February 27, 2012
    Tough political decisions have to be made to ensure highway investment - *Dr Max Lay reports
  • Road user charging, the way to highway investment?
    April 12, 2012
    Tough political decisions have to be made to ensure highway investment - *Dr Max Lay reports Our road systems and how we use them have changed dramatically over the last few centuries, and yet some problems persist and others reappear. For most of human history roads have been used by foot traffic and by cumbersome wagons hauled at walking pace. Roads were built to provide some obvious advantage in commerce or conquest. They were then grudgingly maintained by those who might gain some advantage from the
  • Free flow tolling technology is booming
    April 10, 2013
    Jon Masters reports on the latest moves in the free-flow tolling segment. Free-flow tolling of roads and discrete infrastructure, such as bridges and tunnels, is an area of transportation that appears to be booming. Tolling in general is on the up, often still as a means for funding road projects where public sector budgets can no longer cover the necessary costs, but not exclusively so. Several high profile examples of road user charging for ‘demand management’ – the reduction of congestion as part of a wi
  • Europe's smart road pricing project
    February 20, 2012
    New trials pave the way for smart road pricing using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). In recent years, the concept of road charging has been gaining acceptability among Europe's policymakers.