Crocodile

In the past major traffic events have led to congestion and traffic breakdown in Central and East European cross-border areas repeatedly. This region comprises several smaller countries with different languages and lots of cross-border traffic. In order to enable harmonised and efficient traffic flows along European transport corridors, cooperation and harmonised information exchange is of vital importance.

CROCODILE has pushed the harmonised exchange of dynamic traffic data and information across borders. Partners have worked together to implement an infrastructure for providing road traffic information. Efforts are being pursued in accordance with the EU ITS Directive and its supplementing Delegated Regulations. This encompasses coordination on organisational level, technical implementation of standards as well as enhancement of management strategies and end-user services. The latter are being improved so that road users can obtain more and better information through channels (e.g. websites, apps) that they are used to, thereby adding to the continuity of services as defined in the EU ITS Directive.

Within CROCODILE public authorities, road administrations and traffic information service providers of in total 10 European Member States (Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, as well as Bulgaria, Croatia) and 3 associated Member States (Slovakia in the status of associated Member States) were committed to set up and operate a data exchange infrastructure based on DATEX II. That infrastructure is used to exchange data and information between all involved stakeholders, including private partners, with the goal to provide harmonised cross-border traveller information services along the whole corridor. A specific focus within CROCODILE was on safety-related and truck parking information services.