Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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might be regarded as an emerging sixth finger. It is estimated that the
population of the Øresund Region will grow by approximately 200 000 in 20
years. Accompanying the population increase and possible economic
integration, it is also estimated that car traffic across the bridge will increase
from an average of 18 500 vehicles per day in 2007 to 49 000 vehicles per
day in 2025 and that the number of daily commuters across Øresund will
increase from 17 600 individuals per day in 2007 to approximately 56 000 in
2025. 12 Commuting will, according to these expectations, account for half of
all passenger car traffic on the bridge in 2015. The current situation, with
higher wages in Copenhagen and lower housing/living costs in Skåne, will
lead to the emergence of one functional area sooner or later. Rush-hour
traffic will be the most urgent challenge. The bridge itself is likely to
support the increase of passengers for the coming decade, while the roads
and rail in Copenhagen might run into difficulties dealing with the
additional traffic, for example in the connection with the city centre and
with the airport, as the arrangement of the Øresund Link required each
country to take independent responsibility for domestic access to the link.
The central and local government could profit from taking some measures to
counter the bottleneck.
To face the challenges, the Capital Region‘s Development Plan, in
accordance with the Finger Plan, promotes expansion of public transport in
densely populated areas and on the large approach roads. This is a step in
the right direction, but a solution from supply side, through increase of
transportation capacity, should be linked with the demand side, through land
use planning that influences transportation needs. Transportation planning
should be clearly co-ordinated with land use plans such as the Finger Plan.
Since transportation infrastructure planning falls under the jurisdiction of
Ministry of Transport, while spatial planning is under the Ministry of
Environment, both ministries will need to co-ordinate to achieve effective
and efficient regional structures.
…requires more integrated transport planning
At the national level, it is not clear how to prioritise infrastructure
development among many transportation mode and regions. National
Transport Agreements intend to prioritise investments in road and rail
infrastructure. Agreements in 2003 and 2005 focused on congestion relief
and international links. The 2006 agreement focused on restoration of the
rail network and new road construction. For the coming government
investment plans, the national government established the Infrastructure
Commission, whose task is to assess key challenges and potentials towards
2030, present strategic options and priorities, give advice on public-private
partnerships (PPPs), environmentally friendly transportation and evaluate
organisation for physical planning. The Commission issued a report in 2008,