Question of development of transport network in the middle-size Czech town of Zlin

Abstract

The transport's function is a necessary condition of the development of regions all over the world. The aim of the most urban authorities (at least in the more developed countries) is a sustainable city transport network. This is necessary for big agglomerations as well as for smaller towns, e.g. ZlĂ­n in Czechia. ZlĂ­n has only 80 000 inhabitatns, but it is quite important town: an original seat of the global concern Bata was situated here. The transport issues in ZlĂ­n are close to those in many cities of this size in Poland. However, geographical conditions and historical roots make this town unique. Therefore, it is a good object for an interesting case study. The town is situated upon a small river amongst mountains. The lack of space causes concentration of the most of transport to the main route at the centre of the town. Recently, there has been a particularly enormous growth of motorcars. This resulted from the growing level of living of the citizens and changes of lifestyle. More and more people move from the centre to suburb (suburbanization) and they have to commute to the centre now. New investments in the city centre (university, cultural and education centre, new shopping areas and entertainment centres) create new places with concentration of city transport and generate more critical points in the transport network. Based on the research results, the paper deals with recent and future weak points in the transport network in Zlín. The following solutions are proposed: optimalization of the transport network, promotion of environmental thinking and completing the infrastructure. It is obvious, that the second main route, parallel to the central one, projected before the World War II but never constructed, is dramatically missing.