Ploiesti's urban configuration

Ploiesti City is located in the south of Romania, 60 Km North of Bucharest, the capital of Romania; capital of Prahova County, is situated south of the Sub-Carpathian hills and north-west of the confluence point of two main rivers, Prahova and Teleajen.

The town was established first in 1597, and during the 17th and 18th centuries rapidly flourished as a center for trade and handicraft manufacturing. The road connecting Ploiesti to Brasov was opened in 1864, and the railway arrived in 1882. Many schools and hospitals were built around this time.

Between the two World Wars, local industry was boosted by petroleum processing in particular. Major oil companies, most of them foreign, started operations in the city. In 1939, for instance, the 12 refineries of Ploiesti provide 80% of the total petroleum processed in Romania. During the World War II, refining installations underwent intense bombardments, the heaviest in the country, and most residential areas, industrial compounds, the road and railways were destroyed. The city revitalized its industry after the war and became one of most important economic centres in Romania. The municipal economy is characterised by the concentration of large and very large businesses. The population of Ploiesti went from 56,460, as indicated by the December 1912 census returns, up to 252,715 in January 1992. At the end of the year 2001, the population was slightly reduced to 248,688.

Ploiesti city (5,844 ha) is planned to become the nucleus of a metropolitan area which will count some 11 nearby villages, adding around 70,000 new inhabitants to the administrative area. An inter-communal body, structured as a partnership, will co-ordinate the development of the agglomeration with regards to the functional zoning, communication and transport networks, technological development, leisure, pollution abatement.

In 2002, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, the Ploiesti Municipality Strategy for Sustainable Development was produced, consisting of three documents: Local Strategy for Sustainable Development, Local Action Plan and Priority Projects (within Local Agenda 21).

Mobility system and policies

Transport supply and demand

Ploiesti is a railway hub providing connections between Bucharest, Transylvania and Moldavia. The city has several railway stations for passenger and goods transportation. Ploiesti is also an important national and county motorway hub. The municipality lies at the confluence point of the North-South and East-West axes, respectively at the crossroads of Transylvania-Bucharest (Danube River or the Black Sea) and Moldavia-Oltenia (the sub-Carpathian connection). The road network has a radial-ring structure and extends from the city to the neighbouring villages.

The municipal roads comprise over 800 streets with a total length of 324 km. East and West ring belts cannot prevent around 5300 vehicles transiting Ploiesti each day. The municipal vehicle park comprised 216 buses, 32 trams and 10 trolleybuses carrying about 70 millions passengers annually. There are 33 bus lines having a total length of 415,46 km; 2 trolley-bus lines having a total length of 19,9 km and 2 tram lines having a total length of 23,8 km.

Private companies provide transportation to the neighbouring rural areas and other parts of the county. Transit centres are located at the Southern and Western railway Stations, "Strandului-Obor", the County Hospital and "Podul Inalt".

The future land use projects will consider public transport as an important factor of the urban planning solutions. In this way, the public transport will feed new developments areas: Hippodrome, Carino residential area, Strejnic charter airport. Public transport terminals in the periurban area will ensure an easy transfer in the main crossings between the future highway and urban trunks. The foreseen completion of the ring road in order to facilitate the connection between the West ad South railway stations will be based on public transport. This will offer more room for separate lanes and priorities at traffic lights in central area for public transport means. The present condition shows:

• no facilities for cycling even a demand for dedicated infrastructures exists;
• only three short streets for walking are provided;
• less than 9.00 sqm of green space per capita against 17.00-26.00 sqm per capita according to the standards.

The local transport company - RATP - which is municipality owned, provides connections to all areas within the city, for a daily average of 150,000 passengers. Figure 2.5.2 shows the distribution of scope related travels.

Mobility Policies

In co-ordination with the Local Agenda 21 and the General Urban Plan of the City of Ploiesti, the City Master Plan becomes the statutory tool to guide and to enforce the plan provision in the technical, financial and management terms.

During the internal discussion regarding the future Master Plan organised by Department for EU Integration with the Executive Departments of the City Hall, there were two main results:

• The first result target the principles with should guide the CMP: 1) The urban traffic should offer a chance for non-car driving persons as well as for the car-driving persons (cohesion principle) and 2) The promotion of an alternative urban transport system should enhance the Local Agenda 21 provision (sustainability principle).
• The second result is related to the involvement of potential stakeholders during the project formulation. A significant role will play RATP (the local company of public transport) and DPD (Public Field Department). At this stage only the UPG (Petroleum and Gas University), outside of the public organisation network, is a reliable partner.

At the present the transport policy of the City Council aims to rehabilitate and modernise the transport in Ploiesti city, taking into consideration in the same time the urban planning requirements and environment protection issues. In this regard there were established the following directions:

• construct motorways for heavy traffic (categories I and II) along main traffic routes (radial and tangential);
• construct a II category motorway to provide a straight connection between the western and southern railway stations;
• manage traffic flows in the downtown area and on the east-west connection;
• manage heavy and transitory traffic on detour motorways;
• upgrade traffic control systems at the main crossroads;
• construct or extend level railway passages on main traffic routes, and on the radial and ring railroads;
• double the number of traffic lanes for the western and northern beltways (the project for the western beltway has been started);
• construct the Bucharest-Ploiesti-Brasov highway;
• construct new parking lots in the residential districts and at the entrance points to the municipality;
• extend municipal public transportation to the peripheral villages;
• modernise bus terminals and construct new ones;
• extend electrical-powered public transportation;
• modernise and extend the municipal vehicle park.

Cycling State of the art

The specific cycling services will be addressed. A research will be made in order to find the opportunities of expanding the envisaged 16 km of cycling routes (Independentei Avenue, Ploiesti-satellite village) in other areas, in order to create a real network without interruptions and generate a critical mass able to produce a significant increase in cycling use and an exploitation on a commercial base. In Ploiesti, a special attention will be offered to the cycling facilities in the central area (subject to an access control policy), Carino and Hippodrome development areas and other areas in which cyclists can be given higher priority.