Halmstad's strategy and action plan for sustainable transport

Halmstad embraced a comprehensive plan for sustainable transport consisting of a traffic strategy and more detailed action plan.

The City Council of Halmstad decided in 2012 to embrace the Action plan for sustainable transport (Handlingsplan för hållbara transporter), which consists of a traffic strategy and a traffic plan. The strategy describes the long-term vision of the municipality for 2030, whereas the action plan describes more precise measures. The general goal of the plan is to have a sustainable transport system with good prerequisits for environmentally friendly and efficient resource-use.

The goal for the transport system in 2030 is that the right mean of transport shall be used for the right type of travel. Measures that support walking, biking or using public transport are a first priority for passenger transport, whereas the use of rail roads or shipping are preferred for transporting goods. Development measures shall above all focus on changing the need of transport, i.e. reducing it, changing the type of transport to more sustainable modes and more efficient use of existing infrastructure.

The Action plan for sustainable transport is a guiding document that works as the base for the actual planning of measures that will be taken and it guides the decision-making on what projects and what budget will be directed to city mobility development.  The final decision on implementing the planned measures, directives and budget will be taken in the budget and planning directives of the municipality. A public consultation on the plan has been organized in 2010, June to November. The comments from citizens and other stakeholders have later been answered by the city in a consultation report.

Photo: City of Halmstad