Infrastrutture Baltiche: Paradigmi e Prospettive sulla Via Dell'ambra

The volume of traffic between the Baltic states, still underdeveloped until the late Nineties, was mainly conducted by road, along the route corresponding to the ancient “Via Baltica”. The presence of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad - which interrupts the motorway contiguity with much of Poland - has meant that trade with Europe has had to rely essentially on ports, not all of which are capable in equal measure of satisfying the overall increase in transport demand. Only in the long term, if at all, may these routes assume certain functions within the framework of a European-wide system of ‘TransEuropean Networks’. In the last decade, however, the infrastructural situation of the Baltic countries has changed radically as the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have decided to invest great economic and political energy in developing a colossal transnational project known as “Rail Baltica”, which seeks to take over the motorway traffi c currently served (to a much lesser extent) by the “Via Baltica”, revolutionizing the transport system of north-eastern Europe.