Evaluating Major Transportation Infrastructure Impacts Using GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis: The Case of Egnatia Motorway in Greece

Abstract

Renowned for their ability to address spatial problems, commercial GIS software packages can play a crucial role in spatial decision-making processes when equipped with sophisticated tools for managing and analysing spatially referenced data. To enhance their capabilities, synergies between GIS and multicriteria decision-making tools have been promoted, combining GIS’s strengths in managing and visualising data with operational research methods for modelling decision problems. The resulting MultiCriteria Spatial Decision Support Systems (MC-SDSS) provide a consistent framework for ranking alternatives by integrating spatial data with decision-maker preferences. Multiattribute decision models are particularly relevant in urban and regional planning, especially for assessing transportation infrastructure projects. This paper presents a spatial multicriteria evaluation of the impacts of the Egnatia Motorway, one of Greece’s most significant infrastructure projects of the early 2000s. Stretching 670 km across 12 prefectures from Igoumenitsa Port, with links to Italy, to Kipi on the Greek-Turkish border, the motorway represents a major intervention with a construction cost of approximately €6 billion. Designed as a dual carriageway with two traffic lanes per direction, the project was heavily supported by EU investment to strengthen Northern Greece’s transport and tourism potential.