Effects of Transport Infrastructure Built for Mega Sports Events on Transportation Systems of Host Cities

Abstract

This article analyzes the effects of new transport infrastructure on transport systems in Russia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup host cities. We selected the cities we examine here according to the scale of planned transport infrastructure development: Saransk, Kaliningrad, and Ekaterinburg are all experiencing substantial transportation expansion. Analysis is conducted using open spatial data on populations and street networks. Transport infrastructure development is evaluated in terms of its effectiveness and usefulness for hosting cities after the 2018 World Cup. We note that the investment into Saransk’s new transport infrastructure appears to be the most effective in terms of future use. We demonstrate the feasibility of conducting such analysis using only open data, but also identify some of the issues and pitfalls of doing so.