The paper argues for a public Road Authority owning the highway infrastructure and holding debt. Present provisions for private roads lead to large distortions, and are unlikely to encourage private investment.
A literature review suggests that increases in real fuel prices would lead to a short run reduction in both traffic and consumption, due to more careful driving and differential responses for different journeys. In the longer run the effects would be increased. It is suggested that non-dynamic estimation methods are biased, and that transport prices have wider effects, and are a more important lever of transport policy, than has sometimes been assumed.
Gasoline demand elasticities in the OECD are analysed and used to forecast gasoline consumption and carbon emissions under various price and tax policies. If the whole OECD had taxes as high as Italy, emissions could be reduced by more than 30 per cent in the year 2000, instead of increasing by almost 50 per cent if taxes remained unchanged.
A projected road interchange at bredden did not show a rate of return high enough for inclusion in the programme of the Swedish National Road Administration. After negotiations it was jointly funded by the Administration and local firms. This paper examines the conditions under which voluntary funding may be accepted and the various policies available.
The Inter-State Commission should be allowed to initiate investigations: the present restriction on its functions prevents full use of its experience and expertise.
Policies to restrain downtown use of cars are politically difficult to adopt and implement. The author gives advice to planners on how to avoid the worst dangers.
A case study shows the net benefits that would result from various measures to restrain the use of cars in the centre of Boston, Mass. Similar benefits would be likely in other cities.
The article reviews the development of transport policy within the European Communities since 1958 and suggests reasons for lack of progress in a number of key policy areas.
The author examines conflicts in the transport sector between: EEC and UK; central government and nationalised industries; central and local government; and local government and transport operators. He concludes that continual reappraisal is necessary to ensure that institutional arrangements and operational objectives are consistent with political reality.
Two comments on an article published in this Journal in September 1977, with the authors’ rejoinder.
