[sustran] Re: Road building

Roger Higman rogerh at foe.co.uk
Mon Jul 31 00:34:28 JST 2000


 
> I am urgently looking for material that will establish the
> point that additional road building does not really help in
> the long run since the additional traffic that it generates
> soon clogs the new roads as well as the old one.

The classic UK reference is:

Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment "Trunk Roads and the Generation of Traffic" December 1994 (London: HMSO)

This found that: "the economic value of a scheme can be overestimated by the omission of even a small amount of induced traffic".

It said induced traffic is "of greatest importance in the following circumstances:

- where the network is operating or is expected to operate close to capacity;
- where traveller responsiveness to changes in travel times or costs is high, as may occur where trips are suppressed by congestion and then released when the network is
improved;
- where the implementation of a scheme causes large changes in travel costs."

Roger Higman                      
Senior Campaigner (Climate and Transport)
Friends of the Earth (E,W+NI),               
26-28 Underwood Street,
London, N1 7JQ
                                                       
Tel     + 44 171 566 1661                       Fax   + 44 171 490 0881
Pager     07654 663772 
E-mail  rogerh at foe.co.uk                        http://www.foe.co.uk



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