Bremen, in Germany, is the ‘most connected’ region of Europe when it comes to motorway access, with 169 kilometres of motorway per 1,000 km², according to new data from Eurostat.
Other regions to boast a high motorway density include Zuid-Holland (134 km) and Utrecht (124 km) in the Netherlands, as well as Budapest (120 km), Vienna (109 km), and Noord-Holland (108 km).
‘Motorway networks tend to be most concentrated in urban areas, industrial zones and major seaports, where population density and transport demand are typically highest’, Eurostat noted.
However, the data also reveals that several EU regions have no motorways at all, many of them island or remote areas. These include several regions in France and Greece, as well as parts of Portugal, Finland, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Over the decade leading up to 2024, motorway expansion has been somewhat uneven across Europe, with the largest motorway expansion recorded in Andalucía, Spain, where 242 km of new motorways were built between 2014 and 2024. This was followed by Stredné Slovensko in Slovakia (214 km) and Castilla y León in Spain (191 km).
Railway networks
In terms of rail networks, meanwhile, Berlin has the highest railway density in the EU, with 764 km per 1,000 km², followed by Hamburg (639 km). Other leading regions include Budapest (484 km), Prague (433 km), and Bremen (389 km).
‘Hamburg and Bremen are two regions where extensive freight lines to and from seaports contribute to a high railway line density,’ Eurostat noted.
At the other end of the spectrum, several regions have very limited or no railway networks. Three Greek regions, including Peloponnisos, Dytiki Makedonia, and Thessalia, recorded the lowest densities, with fewer than 10 km per 1,000 km².
In total, 13 regions across the EU have no railways, many of them islands or outermost territories in France, Greece and Spain. Read more here.
