Current Issues
Economic Growth
The continuing global economic downturn focuses attention on the role of transport infrastructure investment in stimulating economic growth.
However, transport investments vary considerably in their economic impacts and require careful targeting and co-ordination with other investments and policies if they are to be effective.
The majority of transport investments are untested (post implementation) against their intended effects (such as stimulating economic growth).
Value for money
Cost benefit analysis is an essential component of investment planning and the comparison of transport investment options.
However, cost benefit analysis is often based mainly on travel time, vehicle operating costs and safety. This has a number of limitations and a range of other (non-monetised) factors need to be taken into account during the decision making process.
Cost benefit analysis procedures need to be consistent, comprehensive and mode-neutral to identify value for money
Other value for money techniques may also be appropriate (depending on circumstances) such as cost effectiveness benchmarking, business case (financial) analysis and/or economic impact assessment.
Integrated investment policies
There is an ongoing need to introduce integrated and complementary measures that work towards a common goal, for example:
- Economic planning together with supportive land-use and multi-modal access
- Public transport investment together with supportive parking and pricing policies
- Road investment together with associated priority measures
The following link to a simplified web based model to illustrate the potential effects of applying either complementary or non-complementary measures.
Move the sliders to see the effects changing policies and investment levels may have on different aspects of transport system performance and give us your feedback.