Research on the Impacts from the Implementation of an Urban Toll System in the Northeast Suburbs of Attica, Greece

The boost in suburban development has occurred as an outcome of various factors, leading to an extensive increase in mobility needs for housing and commuting. These travel needs were mostly covered through the private automobile, developing high traffic flows and jams in the peri-urban environment. In order to tackle with the above demands and decrease the public cost of road infrastructure among other issues, many countries are applying charging methods (such as tolls, congestion pricing etc.) to the users of the interurban street network. This approach raises a number of issues and finds numerous supporters and dissenters, as it is strongly doubted if charging practically decreases traffic and whether it excludes road users according to income criteria and housing location. This paper aims to deal with the potential impacts of urban toll systems applied in highway road segments, on the local network of the adjacent residential areas. The research was centered at a local part of the Attica ring road that links the North-East Athenian suburbs with the city center, passing through numerous emerging suburbs. The key enquiry of the paper is whether the application of congestion charges in the studied segments would burden the local street network of the neighboring suburbs, as users would try to bypass the toll roads and use alternative connections. The study looked in depth the suggested plans for the development of an integrated urban toll system in North-East Attica and explored the potential traffic impacts prior to the development. Quantitative and qualitative mobility indicators were taken into account and traffic capacity of the local networks was examined thoroughly. Moreover, potential land use, planning and environmental impacts were researched in the buffer zones among the ring road and the suburbs.