Abstract
Freight transportation can be defined as the movement of goods and services to customers to obtain a monetary reward. Poor quality transport infrastructure implies higher travelling times and costs. This indirectly affects the productivity of a region since transportation costs are directly related to sales prices. Therefore, infrastructure investments become important for improving the competitiveness of a region. The problem with these investments is that they take time and require a large amount of money. Consequently, it is extremely important to prioritise this type of investment. This paper will first explain whether transportation investment or a sustainable transportation method affect the exported freight accessibility and if it also affects regional productivity using a linear regression model with the aid of a data-driven geographical information system. It uses spatial separation, gravity, and cumulative opportunity measures to calculate accessibility. Finally, the paper denotes which regions are highly affected by improvements in road, river, and railway networks using Colombia as a case study. The comparison considers travelling time and costs savings under each scenario. The results indicate that the gravity measure was the most appropriate accessibility measure for analysing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The scenario analyses suggest that zones farthest from the seaports are more sensitive to accessibility changes; consequently, they will receive higher improvements in their regional GDP with a national-level implementation of transport infrastructure investments. Thus, project prioritisation should be performed in regions where the investments lead to a decreased travel cost between regions and ports.
Highlights
Transportation plays an important role in a country’s economy and provides opportunities for production and consumption since it implies moving goods and services to customers or transporting passengers to a specific activity
Transport costs correspond to the highest expenses of companies and lead to time and cost savings to users [1]. erefore, it is important to reduce both transport cost and time because they indirectly increase the real incomes of society and the competitiveness of a country [2]. at is why governments spend large investments and implement public policies focused on improving the quality of the transport system
One way to prioritise and identify the most suitable investments for a country is through the impact they have on accessibility and economic growth as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). erefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a methodology based on econometric models and geographic information to determine the relationship between infrastructure investment, accessibility, and both regional and national productivity
Summary
Transportation plays an important role in a country’s economy and provides opportunities for production and consumption since it implies moving goods and services to customers or transporting passengers to a specific activity. The relationship between accessibility, transport costs, and economic development is evident, most studies have modelled this relationship from the user’s viewpoint Studies on this field generally used domestic air transport [29], labour [32], highways and railways [33,48], interregional logistics [34], road mobility [37], travel time [3], location [49], among others, as main indicators. Marzuez et al [58] developed an approach based on geographical analysis to include accessibility indicators as explanatory variables in the freight generation models, in order to analyse the impact that new transport infrastructure produces in agricultural production. It is suitable to mention that none of these studies were applied in Latin-American countries. erefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a methodology to analyse the effect of infrastructure investment on the GDP using the freight
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