Modelling World Conference: Appraising transport & infrastructure projects

UK government infrastructure policy is dominated by investments in large-scale developments (new residential areas, high-speed rail, etc) and such developments must demonstrate the economic benefits (growth, GDP, employment creation, etc) in their bidding documentation. Other factors related to quality of life and sustainability are less important.

The CONDUITS approach to appraising new transport projects, focused on calculating the impacts against sustainability indicators (road safety, emissions, social inclusion, traffic efficiency), is quite different to the UK approach. CONDUITS was presented during the final plenary session of the conference by Pierre Schmitz (formerly Brussels Mobility). There was some interest in the CONDUITS approach. However, unless there is a change in government policy, ie, considering wider impacts than the economic type, the current focus on economic appraisal is unlikely to change.

Incidentally, the European project Evidence is currently collecting evidence of the economic impacts of transport measures/initiatives. See separate article at: https://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/656/45/Economic-benefits-of-sustainable-transport-measures