Brussels, 15/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - With a view to ensuring the safety of all road users and proper rest for lorry drivers, the SETPOS consortium, in cooperation with the European Commission, launched the first pilot project at Valenciennes (France) on Tuesday 12 June, to promote the development of secure rest areas for vehicles travelling on the routes which make up the trans-European transport network. It is planned to construct and equip a total of five pilot parking areas between May 2007 and May 2009: at Valenciennes in France, Woernitz and Uhrsleben in Germany, Ashford in the United Kingdom and Liège in Belgium. The total cost of the project will be €10.9 million, to be met equally by the Commission and the private consortium.
The first secure parking area, specifically for heavy goods vehicle drivers (Truck Etape Valenciennes) is scheduled to open in January 2008. Making use of this opportunity, the Commission published a call for proposals which in a second phase, will grant European quality and security labels of some 50 rest areas on the trans-European network. Interested organisations will have until 14 September to submit their proposals to the following address: http: //ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/grants/proposal_en.htm (aby)