Situated at Europe's crossroads between east and west and north and south, the Czech Republic has been weighed down with an unprecedented rise in truck traffic since it joined the European Union last May.

The problem is further compounded by the lack of proper roads to meet the higher demand.

"The rise is dramatic," said Viktor Meca, spokesman for the Czech Transport Ministry.

"The number of trucks rose by just seven percent from 2000 to 2002 but by 70 percent on certain roads, mainly after EU accession," he added.

The numbers are even more striking on some border routes.

"Some 13,500 were registered in April 2004 (just before the country's EU accession) on the Czech-German route border point at Rozvadov/Waidhaus, compared to around 70,000 trucks on the same road per month during the last months of the year," said Meca.

The situation is nightmarish for residents in several border regions.

"It's horrible here," said Ilona Smitkova, mayor of Dubi, a small town in the northeast of the country near the German border.

Dubi is cut in two by the E55 international motorway, which connects Prague and Berlin. In this border region, there is no road or detour that would avoid the towns and villages on its path.

In the space of one year the number of trucks has risen from 30,000 a month to more than 50,000.

"People complain of cracks in their houses, people can't cross the road, we can't sleep, the level of traffic is huge. The town hall had to buy fluorescent vests for the children," said the mayor.

But while they understand the concerns of inhabitants, haulage companies are quick to defend their work.

"No one would send lorries across Europe for his own pleasure. There is always a customer who wants to carry something, merchandise, to another client," said Martin Sprynar, secretary general of the Czech Association of Hauliers Cesmad Bohemia.

"The elimination of commercial and customs barriers was one of the principal arguments for our entry to the EU. No one could then be surprised that the traffic between EU countries would be now higher," he said.

Czech motorways are also the preferred choice for lorries connecting Poland, Hungary and Ukraine with Germany or the north of France because the tolls are cheap.

"The annual road tax of 14,000 koruna (471 euros, 622 dollars) for trucks over 12 tonnes is the same as less than 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) in Austria. That equates to only three or four journeys in the Czech Republic," said Meca.

Imitating Germany and Austria, the Czech government decided in mid-January to introduce an electronic toll system for lorries from 2006.

"One can't expect that the toll system's introduction will bring a reduction in the number of trucks. In Austria, it even rose by eight percent rise after a similar measure," said Meca.

All the parties involved agree that the roads are badly equipped for such heavy traffic in this country, which threw off communism 15 years ago.

Sprynar estimates that it would need an investment of more than 30 billion euros.

The mayor of Dubi is also quick to denounce environmental organisations which oppose the construction of a new section of the D8 motorway in the direction of Dresden and Berlin, because it crosses a protected nature reserve.

"We are at the end of our patience," said Smitkova.

"The solution proposed by environmentalists, with a three-kilometre-long tunnel, would delay construction by several years," she said.