Baltican Infrastructure Redevelopment

[Baltica]

Baltican Railway Reconstruction

For decades, Baltica has relied greatly on rail to make up the majority of all transportation within the nation. The “General Car Ban”, introduced in April 1960, was a wartime measure introduced shortly after the end of the first Baltican Civil War, as a way to preserve fuel reserves for electricity production. The ban, however, would continue well past the 1960s, resulting in a complete lack of roads as well as automobiles throughout the nation, and a complete reliance on rail as well as more primitive modes of transport like horse carriages. Throughout much of this period, the Baltican rail network was a scattered mess of local networks that connected a few populated villages and urban centres. It was by no means effective, nor was it efficient, as quickly enough the whole nation began to lag behind due to the limitations of its infrastructure network. As such, in 1978, the then Baltican Bureau of Transportation and Infrastructure, launched the “National Spine Scheme”. This scheme constructed the largest rail line in the nation, that collectively linked the West and East, allowing for both people and goods to travel with ease across Baltica. This “National Spine” became the literal spine of the Baltican economy and society as a whole. But this fine spine would eventually shatter, as the Second Baltican Civil war swept over the nation, and much of the former “National Spine” was destroyed and damaged. The effects of this have been felt throughout the nation, none the more so than in the small Inland communities of Liplan-Kretin and Dokestva. Those without access to any form of rail have now had to fall on the old Horse and carriage to make ends meet. Although a large part of the “Trans Western” Rail line has been able to survive the war. This is largely due to its proximity away from the conflict, both the latter half of the Western Rail Line and the smaller “Belgorta-Ausen” line are in need of serious repairs and development. As such, the Baltican Central Government, alongside the Ministry of Transport have both come together to finance the biggest public works project in Baltica since the first National Spine construction in 1978, this being the new Trans National Railway. But in order to commence this project, the Baltican government has decided to outsource much of the planning and materials from foreign companies, seeing as the ongoing reconstruction has created a shortage in iron as well as planners. As such, HHB Bazen, an @Aurivizhan firm, has been contacted by the Ministry of Transport to aid with the project…

[Baltica]

The Baltican Road Network

Baltica has for decades, lagged behind the rest of the wurld in terms of infrastructure. The lack of oil, and the introduction of the General Motor Ban during the Baltican Republic Era, saw the whole of Baltica designed without roads or cars in mind. This has created many modern hurdles, which the Baltican Government and most importantly, the Baltican Economy greatly suffer to deal with. Long and expensive transport times/costs, a lack of connectedness between the Baltican Rural and Urban areas and the inability of some to access important services are just some of the challenges average Balticans and Baltican businesses face. Even during the Civil War, the lack of infrastructure proved to be a challenge for all contenders of the conflict, most of whom would get bogged down by the lack of available supply lines. Ever since the conclusion of the Civil War, there has been a common consensus that a modern road network will have to be constructed from the ground up, and alas, the Federal Government has dedicated enough of its attention to see the vision through. 

Highway Divisions and Organisation

The Current goal of the Baltican Highway project will be to connect existing cities and major urban areas of the nation, whilst connecting as much of the rural areas of Baltica as possible. Additionally, attention will be placed on connecting existing large ports to major manufacturing hubs. The Highway network will be divided into three parts, the Greater Raskian Network (Shortened to R), the Greater Goja Network (Shortened to G) and the Dokestvan Network (Shortened to D). Highways that go North to South or vice versa will always end with a 0, to indicate that they go North to South or South to North. Meanwhile, Highways that go from West to East or vice versa will contain the number 5 in them, to indicate the opposite. This system was chosen to reflect existing Port infrastructure and shipping routes, which use a similar labelling system. The Highway system will consist of standard highways that will be made up of three lanes, totalling 6 lanes total. The only exception is the G-15 line that connects Kauni to Goja, which will be made up of 4 lanes, totalling 8 total lanes. 

For the foreseeable future, the Baltican highway network will have no toll booths, as a way to encourage people to make the transition towards cars. Additionally, a new tax will be levied on Horses, specifically through the Horse Transport License, which will require people to pay for a continuous licence to use and operate horse-based transportation. As time goes on, and Balticans begin to adopt cars as the main form of transport, new taxes will be introduced to bring in revenue for the Federal Government, to both maintain and expand any future road networks across the nation. Additionally, as very little existing infrastructure exists across Baltica to accommodate cars, a series of Gas stations will be constructed across the Baltican Highway network, and especially across cities, to provide areas for people to refuel. Most Gas stations will be constructed and operated by the state-owned “Menomo Gas Works”, which already manages most of Balticas Methane production facilities. Due to Menomo being tasked with the construction of gas stations across Baltica, all gas stations will also be constructed with biofuels in mind, and in future, accommodate a wide range of biofuels such as Biodiesel, Biogas and Ethanol Fuel. Last of all, three major checkpoints will be constructed along the borders of Balticas largest neighbours, Poja and Kalnija. These checkpoints will become alternative routes for land-based transportation, hopefully lessening the strain on cargo shipping and transportation. For Kalnija, the checkpoint will follow the R-10 Highway, following the Balandeli River. Meanwhile one of the Pojacki checkpoints will follow the R-25 highway, whilst the other will follow the G-30 highway along the East Baltican Coast. The Pojacki checkpoints (Specifically the one following the G-30 highway) will be significantly larger, to accommodate larger amounts of traffic.  

(The Published Baltican Highway Plan.)

The Emerging Motor Industry

Although construction of the Baltican Road network has not yet started, the announcement of the plan has already sparked high fascination amongst Baltican firms. For years the lack of any roads, as well as the general motor plan has discouraged any motor industries within Baltica, except the small but capable public transport industry. However, the announcement of the planned construction, and the opportunity of being the first firm to dominate the Baltican domestic market, has sparked a “Car Race”, amongst both the likes of long-established companies, as well as new ones hoping to make their first mark. 

Speculation about what the Baltican Car market would look like remains purely hypothetical, with some firms (As well as the Government) viewing it with general scepticism, whilst others remain steadfast that the market will become much larger than what even the government predicts. However, the common consensus is that much of the market will be filled by international products, at least initially, most likely cheap and older cars from Hinteria. Baltican firms will aim to emulate the likes of foreign car firms, as there are no domestic products to take inspiration from. As such, the first range of Baltican cars (amongst all future firms) will most likely reflect cars commonly seen in the early 2000s and late 90s, and less so cars that can be found in the modern day. Currently, three firms are undertaking the task of constructing the Domestic Baltican Car Industry, which includes, Leopold Motors (LM), United Bolkan Motor Industries shortened to Molka United or Molka (A subsidiary of the greater, Bolka Electronics company) and Varzyba. 

Varzyba has thus far taken the initiative, already overseeing the construction of their first factory in Kretia, planned to be opened when construction of the Greater Goja Network is completed. Although they have not published any car models yet, rumours have quickly begun to develop that the firm is working on a classified project, only known to investors as “Kezanoi-04”. Whatever this “project” may be, it's clear that it will shape the Baltican car industry, potentially acting as an example to all future firms.