Highway Provision Research Articles

The effects of highway tolls on private business activity—results from a natural experiment

Abstract The article studies the impact of a switch from free to charged highway provision on firm numbers and private sector employment in a panel of Portuguese municipalities covering the period 2007–2013. It exploits the fact that tolls on certain highways in Portugal were unexpectedly introduced in reaction to the sovereign debt crisis to establish causality. Findings suggest that the price of highway tolls in terms of forgone employment and firm formation may be substantial. Comprehensive analyses of effect heterogeneity reveal that the effects differ across municipalities, sectors and firm size classes. The negative effects of highway tolls are strongest in the municipalities traversed by the newly tolled highways and seem to decrease with distance from these highways, whereas distance to Lisbon aggravates the negative effects of the tolls. We also find that larger firms and manufacturing firms are more strongly affected by the tolls than smaller firms and firms in the service sector and that the negative effect on firm numbers is strongest immediately after the introduction of the tolls, whereas the negative effect on employment increases with the duration of the treatment.

Suburbanization and highways in Spain when the Romans and the Bourbons still shape its cities

We estimate the effects of highways on the suburbanization of Spanish cities. Based on Spain’s historical roads – the almost 2000years old Roman roads and the 1760 Bourbon roads –, we rely on an instrumental variables (IV) strategy because of the endogeneity of highway provision. Our results show that, first, each highway emanating from central cities caused an 8–9% decline in central city population between 1960 and 2011. Second, each highway ray fostered a 20% population growth in the suburbs, in particular in suburban municipalities where ramps were located. Finally, we confirm the increasing role of highways on shaping urban form: each additional kilometer closer to the nearest highway ramp increased municipal density growth by an 8%.

A Study on Non-Motorised (NMT) Activities for Urban Environment

This study aim to define strategies for influencing of shifting from motorised to non-motorised modes of transport in the framework of a sustainable urban transport. A growing number of Asian cities have high numbers of private car making up the majority of traffic. This has resulted in the negative impact of traffic congestion, road safety, air pollution and climate change. Many policy measures to reduce these problems have been implemented, such as widening the roads, limiting speed, upgrading the motorcycle lanes and upgrading public transport, but there are no measures and encouragement for the provision of non-motorised modes of transport (cycling and walking) in Malaysia. These modes of transport are seldom acknowledged by planners and policymakers. This study suggests areas for reforming the traditional views of highway provision and touches upon the framework for cycling and walking strategies.

Private Provision of Highways: Economic Issues

This paper reviews issues raised by the use of private firms to finance, build, and/or operate highways—issues including cost of capital, level and structure of tolls, and adaptability to unforeseen changes. The public sector’s apparent advantage in cost of capital is at least partly illusory due to differences in tax liability and constraints on the supply of public capital. The evidence for lower costs of construction or operation by private firms is slim. Private firms are likely to promote more efficient pricing. Effective private road provision depends on well‐structured franchise agreements that allow pricing flexibility, restrain market power, enforce a sound debt structure, promote transparency, and foster other social goals.

The Provision of Highways in Canada and the Federal Government

This article presents the role of the Canadian federal government in the provision of highways since 1867, describes the Canadian National Highway System, and presents 1989-1998 data on highway-related revenues and expenditures by the governments in both Canada and the United States. The article then examines why the Canadian federal government intervention on highways is incontestably smaller than that of the federal government in the United States. Our hey finding is that the policy of the Canadian government in the provision of highways since Confederation in 1867 can be characterized as “no policy.” Its interventions are best characterized by various ephemeral programs, the main purposes of which are often other than coordinating or promoting highway construction. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

Uniform Traffic Signs, Signals, and Markings

MODERN city traffic requires not only provision of highways which shall be suitable to handle the estimated traffic which will seek to use the city's streets, but also, for the best results, that consideration shall be given to methods of controlling traffic which are in use elsewhere. One reason for this is that, unlike olden times, much of the traffic in the streets of any city is not local but interurban, interstate, or possibly of still more distant origin. If vehicle operators are to be expected to comport themselves in conformity with local regulations and practices, those regulations and customs should be substantially uniform in all municipalities. Modern control and regulation of street traffic, to be efficient, involves the use of such mechanical helps as traffic signals, signs and pavement markings. The use of such devices has been developing rapidly in recent years. City traffic has become so complicated and restrictions have become so numerous that it is necessary for drivers of vehicles to receive an almost continuous series of instructions not to violate regulations and thus interfere with the use of the streets by others.