Effects Of Road Infrastructure Research Articles

Effects of Road Infrastructure on Economic Growth in CEMAC Member Countries

The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of road infrastructure on economic growth in the CEMAC zone. To do so, a two-step approach has been adopted. The first step consists in tracing the theoretical and empirical developments on the issue. The second is an empirical analysis that highlights the link between road infrastructure and economic growth by estimating the DOLS model. The data used are from the World Bank's WDI database. The results show that road infrastructure has a positive and statistically significant contribution to economic growth in the CEMAC countries. These results have led to some economic policy implications.

Population Density: An Underlying Mechanism Between Road Transportation and Environmental Quality

Mounting degradation in the environmental quality (EQL), specifically from the transport industry, is a big threat and challenge for sustainable development. The transport sector’s emission has gained researchers’ attention on climate change and transportation because of its increasing share in global emission. This study, thus, aims to analyze the links among road infrastructure (RIN), road transport energy consumption (RTEC), and environmental quality with the moderating role of population density (PDN). The study has used a dataset of five South Asian countries from 1971 to 2014. The study applies the Breusch–Pagan LM test to identify the issue of cross-sectional dependence. CIPS (second-generation unit root test) is applied to check the stationarity properties of the data, whereas the Westerlund (Oxf. Bul. Econ. Stat., 2007, 69 (6), 709–748) co-integration test is used to confirm the long-run association among the variables. Moreover, a fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) model is applied to analyze the effect that road transportation has on environmental quality. The study finds a positive effect of road infrastructure, road density (RDN), energy intensity (EIN), and road transport energy consumption on transport-generated emissions, which indicates that road transportation is harmful to environmental quality. Our results confirm the significant moderating role of population density in strengthening the relations of road infrastructure, road transport energy consumption, and environmental quality. It is concluded that population density works as a bridge between road infrastructure, road transport energy consumption, and environmental quality, which helps capture a strong impact of road transportation. We offer the planners of road transportation with a novel and practical approach to examine population density changes policy in the growing countries to analyze the environmental quality.

Effects of Road Infrastructure on Pedestrian Safety

Pedestrians represent more than 30% of all of Poland’s road traffic fatalities. This is much higher than the EU average (about 20%). Pedestrian accidents are usually the result of a complex situation and a number of contributing factors involving road users, the road and roadside and the vehicle. Pedestrian accidents are caused by road user error (drivers and pedestrians) and wrong planning and design. Poorly maintained road infrastructure is also a very frequent cause. The objective of the work was to identify risks for pedestrians that involve road infrastructure and roadside and to define how selected elements of geometry and traffic layout affect driver behaviour (speed on approaching pedestrian crossings). The results have helped to formulate recommendations on pedestrian crossing design. The research included an analysis of 2013-2017 statistics to identify the circumstances and causes of pedestrian accidents. Field work at about 2, 000 unsignalized pedestrian crossings was the basis for assessing the safety of these crossings. Assessment criteria were selected and a safety classification was made with specific recommendations made for possible treatments. More field work was designed to measure speeds near pedestrian crossings in three cases: no pedestrians in the crossing area, a pedestrian is approaching a crossing, a pedestrian is waiting to cross the road. The study was conducted in different areas (city, transit roads passing through small towns, non-built-up areas) for different cross-sections (one carriageway and two lanes – 1x2, two carriageways with two or three lanes each – 2x2, 2x3, one carriageway and four lanes – 1x4). The study also looked at speed limits – 50 and 70 km/h. The share of drivers giving way to pedestrians waiting to cross was also assessed. Pedestrians were surveyed and asked about how safe they feel crossing the road. The survey also asked drivers about driver behaviour and use of speed management measures. Statistical analyses show the circumstances and causes of pedestrian accidents. These include driving across a pedestrian crossing illegally, pedestrians stepping onto the road abruptly, night-time, excessive speed and others. Pedestrian crossings are the site of more than 30% pedestrian fatalities which shows the need for treatments. By assessing the hazards caused by road infrastructure near and at pedestrian crossings, the following hazards could be identified: limited sight-distance, poor illumination, excessive speed and no means of speed management, wrong geometry (length of crossing, number of traffic lanes), technical condition of the road and signage. Speed tests near pedestrian crossings show that some 40% of drivers do not observe the speed limits in built-up areas (especially on sections of transit roads passing through small towns and on dual carriageways in urban areas) and 30% do not observe the speed limits on rural roads.

Effects of Road Infrastructure on Employment, Productivity and Growth: An Empirical Analysis at Country Level

This article estimates the effect of transport infrastructure at country level, on employment, productivity (total factor productivity (TFP), and their components technical efficiency–pure and the scale—and technological change) and economic growth, using a dynamic panel approach. We focus on two broad categories of transport infrastructure: (1) road density and (2) road paved. Using dynamic panel GMM system estimation, we find positive effects of road density and road paved on total factor productivity (TFP) in countries with middle low and low income (using parametric and non-parametric estimations). On the other hand, and taking into account the Deng’s hypothesis of a nonlinearity relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth (Deng, 2013, Transport Reviews 33(6): 686–99), we found empirical evidence about a Kuznets curve when we consider the percentage of roads paved. In countries with middle low and low income, we also found a Kuznets curve between road density and unemployment. JEL Classification: H54, R42, O47, O4, C23

Green infrastructure development at European Union's eastern border: Effects of road infrastructure and forest habitat loss

The functionality of forest patches and networks as green infrastructure may be affected negatively both by expanding road networks and forestry intensification. We assessed the effects of (1) the current and planned road infrastructure, and (2) forest loss and gain, on the remaining large forest landscape massifs as green infrastructure at the EU's eastern border region in post-socialistic transition. First, habitat patch and network functionality in 1996–98 was assessed using habitat suitability index modelling. Second, we made expert interviews about road development with planners in 10 administrative regions in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. Third, forest loss and gain inside the forest massifs, and gain outside them during the period 2001–14 were measured. This EU cross-border region hosts four remaining forest massifs as regional green infrastructure hotspots. While Poland's road network is developing fast in terms of new freeways, city bypasses and upgrades of road quality, in Belarus and Ukraine the focus is on maintenance of existing roads, and no new corridors. We conclude that economic support from the EU, and thus rapid development of roads in Poland, is likely to reduce the permeability for wildlife of the urban and agricultural matrix around existing forest massifs. However, the four identified forest massifs themselves, forming the forest landscape green infrastructure at the EU's east border, were little affected by road development plans. In contrast, forest loss inside massifs was high, especially in Ukraine. Only in Poland forest loss was balanced by gain. Forest gain outside forest massifs was low. To conclude, pro-active and collaborative spatial planning across different sectors and countries is needed to secure functional forest green infrastructure as base for biodiversity conservation and human well-being.

Effects of road infrastructure and traffic complexity in speed adaptation behaviour of distracted drivers

The use of mobile phones while driving remains a major human factors issue in the transport system. A significant safety concern is that driving while distracted by a mobile phone potentially modifies the driving speed leading to conflicts with other road users and consequently increases crash risk. However, the lack of systematic knowledge of the mechanisms involved in speed adaptation of distracted drivers constrains the explanation and modelling of the extent of this phenomenon. The objective of this study was to investigate speed adaptation of distracted drivers under varying road infrastructure and traffic complexity conditions. The CARRS-Q Advanced Driving Simulator was used to test participants on a simulated road with different traffic conditions, such as free flow traffic along straight roads, driving in urbanized areas, and driving in heavy traffic along suburban roads. Thirty-two licensed young drivers drove the simulator under three phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation), hands-free and handheld phone conversations. To understand the relationships between distraction, road infrastructure and traffic complexity, speed adaptation calculated as the deviation of driving speed from the posted speed limit was modelled using a decision tree. The identified groups of road infrastructure and traffic characteristics from the decision tree were then modelled with a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) with repeated measures to develop inferences about speed adaptation behaviour of distracted drivers. The GLMM also included driver characteristics and secondary task demands as predictors of speed adaptation. Results indicated that complex road environments like urbanization, car-following situations along suburban roads, and curved road alignment significantly influenced speed adaptation behaviour. Distracted drivers selected a lower speed while driving along a curved road or during car-following situations, but speed adaptation was negligible in the presence of high visual cutter, indicating the prioritization of the driving task over the secondary task. Additionally, drivers who scored high on self-reported safe attitudes towards mobile phone usage, and who reported prior involvement in a road traffic crash, selected a lower driving speed in the distracted condition than in the baseline. The results aid in understanding how driving task demands influence speed adaptation of distracted drivers under various road infrastructure and traffic complexity conditions.

Effects of road infrastructure on forest value across a tri-national Amazonian frontier

Road construction demonstrably accelerates deforestation rates in tropical forests, but its consequences for forest degradation remain less clear. We estimated a series of forest value metrics including components of biodiversity, carbon stocks, and timber and non-timber forest product resources, along the recently paved Inter-Oceanic Highway (IOH) integrating Brazil and Peru along the Bolivian border. We installed 69 vegetation plots in intact terra firme forests representative of local community holdings near and far from the IOH, and we characterized 15 components of forest value for each plot.We observed strong geographic gradients in forest value components across the region, with increases from west to east in aboveground biomass and in the abundance of timber and non-timber forest product trees and regeneration. Plots in communities in Pando, Bolivia, where the IOH remains in part unpaved, had the highest aboveground biomass, standing timber volumes and Brazil nut tree density. In contrast, communities in Madre de Dios, Peru, where settlements and unpaved portions of the IOH have existed for decades, and in Acre, Brazil, where paving of the IOH has been underway for more than a decade, were more degraded. Seven of the fifteen forest value components we measured increased with increasing distance from the IOH, although the magnitude of these effects was weak. Landscape scale remote sensing analyses showed much stronger effects of road proximity on deforestation. We suggest that remote sensing techniques including canopy spectral signatures might be calibrated to characterize multiple components of forest value, so that we can estimate landscape scale impacts of infrastructure developments on both deforestation and forest degradation in tropical regions.

Effect of Road Infrastructure on Farm Production in Oyo State, Nigeria

In spite of the fact that majority of Nigerian farmers live in rural areas, the rate of infrastructural development in the rural areas remain a source of serious concern. This study was therefore carried out to assess the state of road infrastructure and it effect on farmers’ productivity in Oyo state, Nigeria. A three stage random sampling technique was employed to select 120 farming households in the study area. Descriptive statistics and the multiple regression models were the major analytical tools employed for the study. The result of the analysis showed that the state of road infrastructure in the study area is less than stellar as only about 12 percent of the roads were tarred. Cost of inputs, farm size, access to fertilizer, labour and access to good roads were identified as the significant factors influencing farmers’ output in the study area. In line with the results of the study, it was recommended that the government should focus on construction of more rural roads is to enhance farmers’ productivity and income through increased access to inputs and product market.Key words: Infrastructure, Market, Road, Rural, Oyo