Transport system of the Rostov agglomeration: infrastructural limitations and directions of development

The sustainable development of regions implies unity and the inclusion of social, economical and spatial subsystems which are supported by means of advanced land use planning and encouraging agglomeration processes as well as developing transport infrastructure. The article describes the results of analyzing the current situation of the transport system in the Rostov agglomeration, its growth prospects by means of implementing major infrastructural projects which are the most important tool for accelerated development and increasing the inflow of investments into the regional economy. Such projects include “Aeropolis” which is being implemented within the territory of Grushevsky settlement adjacent to the Platov airport complex, creating the system of high-speed railway lines “Donskoy express”, “Rostov ring road” project aimed at developing a belt highway encircling Rostov-on-Don. Additionally, it is noted that today one of the key problems of the Rostov agglomeration is a high load of principal transport routes which connect the agglomeration with the regional neighboring suburban areas as well as with the traffic system of Rostov-on-Don. The results of the economic analysis show that the construction of motor ways, carriageway extension, improvement of junctions and crossroads do not encourage economic growth and more likely aggravate the problem of transport network overload. In order to reduce traffic load on roads it is essential to pursue a coordinated city-planning and transport policy intended to enhance the quality of performance of public vehicles, reduce the use of passenger cars. One of the solutions of the transport network load problem in the agglomeration can be the formation of a polycentric agglomeration model which would allow reducing traffic load on the metropolitan city.