In 1997 the European Commission, in collaboration with five Member States (Austria, France, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom), embarked on a programme to develop and test Strategic Environmental Assessment of transport corridors. Five corridors were selected out of the wider Trans-European Transport Network, once for each participating country. Each Member State then set out to:

• assist the development of methodologies to assess the environmental impacts of large scale plans, programmes and/or policy measures int he transport sector;
• show that SEA is feasible and that it is a valuable tool for decision-making;
• ensure consideration of sustainability in transport planning and development; and
• assist in deciding the choice between alternatives to solve transport problems in a corridor.

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Transport. Corridors: Lessons learned comparing the methods of five member states