Keep Europe moving: invest in the roads we already have

September 25, 2026

Road authorities, the construction industry and millions of road users call for Europe’s roads to be treated as strategic assets—maintained, modernised and prepared for climate change and digital mobility.

Issued jointly by EAPA, ERF, FIA Region I and IRF

Brussels, 25 September 2026 — Issued to coincide with Connecting Europe Days in Brussels, this joint statement calls on decision-makers to treat Europe’s existing road network as a strategic asset that is maintained, modernised and funded for the long term. Europe’s ambitions for safer, greener and increasingly digital mobility depend on the quality of the physical road network supporting them. Representatives of national road administrations, the construction industry and millions of road users have identified maintenance, resilience, predictable investment and cooperation as shared priorities for Europe’s roads.

Key messages

Europe’s existing road network is a strategic and essential asset supporting everyday mobility, economic competitiveness, territorial cohesion, supply chains and resilience.

Maintenance is an investment, not simply a cost: timely intervention preserves value, extends infrastructure life and avoids greater costs and disruption later.

Future mobility is both physical and digital: electrification, connected vehicles and smarter systems still depend on safe, resilient and well-maintained roads.

Long-term financial certainty is essential: road authorities and industry need predictable investment to plan, retain skills, modernise and introduce lower-emission technologies.

Protecting and modernising the network Europe already has

Europe already has an extensive road network, spanning approximately 6.5 million kilometres ^[1], supporting everyday journeys, public transport, emergency services and freight, while providing the first and last mile of almost every multimodal journey. The immediate challenge is to protect its value, modernise it and keep it performing for longer.

Across Europe, road construction and maintenance expenditure account for around 1% of GDP on average, underscoring the sector’s economic significance.^[2] Timely maintenance can extend infrastructure life, reduce disruption and avoid more costly reconstruction. It can also improve traffic flow and reduce the fuel or energy consumed by vehicles. Delivering these benefits requires decisions based on long-term network performance rather than short-term budget cycles.

The construction industry needs a credible long-term project pipeline to retain skilled workers, renew equipment and invest in lower-emission materials, technologies and construction methods. Stop-start investment can reduce capacity, delay modernisation and make it harder to prepare infrastructure for future demands.

Jean-Pierre Paseri, Vice President of EAPA and President of FIEC, speaking on behalf of road construction actors, including also ERF, and IRF, linked the future of the network to political commitment and industry’s ability to invest: “Europe has already built one of its most important infrastructure assets. The challenge now is to protect its value, modernise it and prepare it for future demands. Industry needs long-term political commitment and predictable investment to deliver the necessary skills, capacity and solutions.”

Connected vehicles, automation and smarter systems will play an increasingly important role in European transport mobility. However, digital innovation cannot compensate for deteriorating physical infrastructure. Roads must also withstand more extreme weather while continuing to serve passengers, freight, public transport and emergency services.

Carsten Karcher, Secretary General of EAPA, who hosted the discussion for a special episode of EAPA’s video podcast The RoadCast, connected these pressures with the need to rethink how Europe prepares its roads: “Europe’s roads are under growing pressure from extreme weather, ageing infrastructure and changing transport systems. We need to move beyond just repairing yesterday’s roads and start preparing the resilient, physical and digital network that tomorrow’s mobility will require.”

Gonzalo Alcaraz, Director General of the International Road Federation (IRF), pointed to the role roads play when it matters most: “It is often in moments of crisis that we are reminded just how essential our road network is. This summer’s wildfires across Europe showed it again: roads became evacuation routes, they allowed emergency services to reach affected communities and they kept essential goods and services moving. We cannot take the resilience of that infrastructure for granted..”

Although the participants represent different parts of the road and mobility community, their perspectives converge on the need for stable, transparent and long-term investment. Without this certainty, authorities risk postponing necessary interventions while industry faces difficulty investing in skills, capacity and innovation.

EAPA President Slovenko Henigman underlined the mismatch between long-term infrastructure needs and short-term budget decisions: “Industry cannot plan for the next decade if infrastructure funding is decided one year at a time. Europe needs predictable, long-term investment that places maintenance, modernisation and life-cycle performance at the heart of road policy.”

For road users, infrastructure quality is experienced through safer journeys, reliable access to work and essential services, stronger connections between communities and affordable mobility. The discussion also addressed how Europe should fund its network as mobility patterns change and revenues from traditional fuel taxation decline. Any future approach will need to balance stable investment with fairness, transparency, and tangible benefits for users.

Diogo Pinto, Director General of FIA Region I, stressed that road users should remain at the centre of the debate about the future of Europe’s road network: “Roads are not simply infrastructure — they are a service that millions of people rely on every day to reach work, education, healthcare, family, and essential services. Their quality directly affects safety, reliability, accessibility, and the cost of mobility. As traditional fuel-tax revenues decline, Europe needs an open and informed discussion about how we fund this essential asset, with any future system being fair, transparent, and clearly connected to the quality of service that road users receive.”

Ahead of Connecting Europe Days, the signatories call on EU and national decision-makers to: recognise the existing road network as a strategic asset; treat maintenance as an investment rather than a cost; provide long-term, predictable funding for maintenance, modernisation and resilience; and ensure that any future funding model is fair and transparent for users. Keeping Europe moving starts with the roads we already have.

These conclusions emerged from Keep Europe Moving, a special episode of EAPA’s The RoadCast bringing together Steve Phillips of CEDR; Jean-Pierre Paseri of FIEC, speaking on behalf of road construction actors, including ERF, EAPA and IRF; and Diogo Pinto of FIA Region I. Hosted by EAPA Secretary General Carsten Karcher, the discussion explores maintenance, funding, resilience, digitalisation and what Europe’s road network needs for the future.

Notes to editors

About Keep Europe Moving

Keep Europe Moving is the final episode of Season 2 of EAPA’s ‘The RoadCast’ , a video podcast. It brings together voices representing Europe’s national road administrations, the broader road construction sector and road users for a conversation to explore the shared priorities shaping the future of Europe’s roads ahead of the Connecting Europe Days in Brussels.

About the issuing organisations

EAPA — The European Asphalt Pavement Association is the voice of the asphalt paving industry in Europe. It represents the sector at European level, develops and shares technical knowledge, and contributes industry expertise on road construction and maintenance, sustainability, safety, innovation and digitalisation.

ERF — The European Union Road Federation is a non-profit association that coordinates the views of Europe’s road infrastructure sector and provides a platform for research and dialogue on mobility issues between stakeholders and institutional actors.

FIA Region I — FIA Region I represents mobility clubs and millions of road users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, advocating for safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable mobility.

IRF — The International Road Federation (IRF) is an international organisation headquartered in Geneva that mobilises the world’s road transport ecosystem through a trusted platform for collaboration. It provides practical knowledge, policy engagement and capacity building to support countries and industry leaders deliver road systems that are inclusive, safe, green and efficient.