The ex-post evaluation assesses the long-term contribution of 10 selected transport major projects - co-financed by the ERDF and CF during 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 programming periods - to economic development as well as the quality of life and well-being of society, including effects on the environment.
The ten major projects were selected from a shortlist of 30 transport investments, spanning the road, rail and urban transport sectors across nine Member States. Overall, these cases represent more than EUR 3.2 billion of investment, including EUR 1.1 billion of co-funding by the ERDF and CF. They were chosen on the basis of a set of selection criteria including strategic relevance, availability and quality of data as well as the willingness of stakeholders to cooperate. The ultimate goal was to select cases likely to provide meaningful project narratives from which to draw useful policy lessons.
The core team developed a common methodology to evaluate the ten cases, building around a retrospective CBA complemented by qualitative analysis. Field visits were carried out for each case study and an extensive interview plan allowed the authors to collect primary data, as well as the views and perceptions of a broad range of stakeholders. A total of 245 people were interviewed, mainly face-to-face. A stakeholder seminar was an integral part of the methodology and aimed at discussing the preliminary evidence stemming from the ten case studies. Finally, the project team presented the findings of the study in a final report available on the website of DG REGIO, which also contains a synthesis and Cross-Project Analysis, conclusions and recommendations.