COST 334

4.3.3.2 Road lengthsIn considering the pavement types relevant to Europe, it is first necessary to recognise thatin most EU countries there exist at least two levels of road network, and that there are alsothree general types of pavement construction.In general, each EU country has a national road network comprising the major roads(motorways and the principal non-motorway routes), together with the “local” roadnetwork. Again, in general terms, it is probably the case that the national road network,although more limited in total length, carries the majority of heavy commercial vehicletraffic. Table 4.1 illustrates the extent of the road network in each of the EU and EFTA(European Free Trade Association) countries.Table 4.1 - Length of road by country (thousand kilometres) (DETR 1999)CountryOf which All roads perAll roadsmotorways 1000 km2Austria 106 1.6 1.267Belgium 143 1.7 4.698Denmark 71 0.8 1.654Finland 78 0.4 0.231France 916 8 1.675Germany 641 11.3 1.796Greece 116 0.2 0.879Irish Republic 92 0.1 1.302Italy 816 6.4 2.709Luxembourg 5 0.1 2.032Netherlands 104 2.2 2.541Norway 91 0.1 0.281Portugal 72 0.6 0.784Spain 160 7.5 0.317Sweden 135 1.1 0.300Switzerland 71 1.6 1.720United Kingdom 389 3.3 1.594Total 4006 46.8From the point of view of the objectives of COST 334, it is likely to be the motorwaynetwork that carries the greatest volume and weight of traffic as heavy goods vehicles.This does not mean, however, that the remainder of the network can be ignored. In theUK, for example, it is estimated that motorways, together with the principal roads in theremainder of the network, amount to about 5% of all roads. This is illustrated in Table 4.2,which gives further information for each EU country, and others.16version 29 November 2001