Welcome Agency for roads and traffic Ladies and gentleman, welcome in the offices of the Flanders Roads and Traffic Agency, and welcome all of you on this workshop on the transmigration problems on our roadnetwork Happy to see the large number of participants 19 different organisations More than 7 nationalities 6 NRA’s In this short welcome I would like to give: As your host, a quick overview of the Agency for roads and traffic As the initiator of this workshop, a brief introduction to the problems we encounter on our roads As a member of the Governing Board of CEDR, an overview of the involvement of CEDR > why do we use the CEDR platform to discuss the topic ir. Tom Roelants February 6th, 2017

As you probably know: Belgium is a federal state with 3 regions, Flanders, Wallonie and Brussel. The 3 regions are responsible for land-related responsibilitys, among which are mobility and public works. As an agency of the Flemisch Government, we are responsible for the motorways and regional roads. Just note that “home security” is a federal responsibility. It means that different political levels are involved in the transmigration issue, which makes it more complicated to handle.

A few numbers: 1500 kms motorways 5400 kms regional roads Total: +- 7000 kms roads

Agency Tasks Management, maintenance and optimisation of the entrusted roads Smooth and safe road traffic organisation Provide information and ensure communication Help design policy

Agency for Roads and Traffic: Strategic objectives Accessibility: selectively guarantee the accessibility of economic intersections and gateways Availability: Selectively guarantee the mobility of everyone in Flanders. Reducing the trafficunsafety Improve traffic liveability despite the increasing mobility Reducing the damage to the environment and nature, even if mobility continues to increase The problem of transit migrants isn’t directly covered by our strategic objectives, and is/was not a core task of our agency Although, to have an accesible and available mobility system, parking and rest areas (in order to respect travel and rest times) are necessary and NRA’s do provide these facilities

Road network Here you see a map of the road network in the management of our agency. The blue roads are the highways, the red roads are the regional road network We are faced with transit migrants on the lorry parkings on the highways towards the coast Trying to reach the UK Mainly on the western part of Flanders mainly towards the port of Calais. A detailled presentation from our problems will be given by Tom Debruyn/Kristof Rombaut later this afternoon

Impact on Road Safety and Security On parking sites for lorries Refugees climbing into trucks (in containers, under suspension) Pedestrians crossing the highway to reach parking sites On the roads Pedestrians making their way on hard shoulder and first lane Migrants trying to stop trucks to climb onboard Trees being cut down in live traffic Stones thrown at trucks Fire on the roads Why is the transmigration topic a problem for NRA’s and their road managers? Two mains reasons: Road safety Security/liveability on parking areas Road safety and liveability om parking and rest sites along our motorways is our daily business. So transmigration is tackling our core business in more than 1 way. DIA In Flanders, from a road operator point of view, we face mainly problems with transmigrants on parking sites for lorries. In our neighbouring country France we even see worse problems.

Impact on road operator Reduced network availability Reduced parking capacity due to closing of parkings with low social control. Damage to infrastructure Fences cut Damage to trees: branches cut to climb into trucks Littering garbage, … improvised bridges High expectations towards automatic detection of migrants and people smugglers Slide: impact on road operator What is the experience of other NRA’s? What are the problems, expectations en solutions of other NRA’s? -> suggestion to organise a CEDR workshop on the transit migration problem

Created on September 18th, 2003 Platform for cooperation between Road Directors Mission Contribute to future developments of road traffic and networks as part of an integrated transport system Promote international network of personal contacts between Road Directors and their staff To provide a platform for understanding and responding to common problems 26 member countries accros Europe Why did we use the CEDR platform to discuss this topic? Everybody familiar with CEDR? What does CEDR stand for?

Strategic objectives • To help NRAs to keep ahead of the curve, anticipate future trends and prepare them to face new challenges • To reinforce NRAs role as key providers of efficient and seamless mobility from an end user perspective within the transport system • To facilitate and optimize the efficient use of resources, making the best use of existing infrastructures. • To improve the safety and sustainability of roads, and reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint.

Action Plan 2017-2019 In the past: 3 strategic plans for 4 years New strategy including a three-year rolling Action Plan More flexibel 5 Focus Areas Digitalisation and innovation. Environment and resilience. Safety, operations and mobility. Resources, asset management and performance. Regulation and harmonization. Workshop transmigration is a good example of the flexibel new strategic plan, which allows us to discuss this new challenge

Thank you I want to thank: CEDR, especially our secretary-general Steve and Marta for the organisation of the workshop and the support Colleagues AWV for the presentations and organisation of the workshop All the participants for the contributions (today and tomorrow) The purpose of the workshop is not to come to come to a ready-made guide. Learn to know new people Learn to know other organisations So that we can also later contact each other with our problems and experiences. The pupose of the workshop is also to Exchange ideas and experiences Learn form each other so the come quicker to good results I wish you all: A fruitfull workshop That the stories of each other will inspire you all