If You Build Roads, Will They Come?

A report released by the UnitedKingdom's Department of Transport. reviews seven before-and-after studies of the effects of new road links. The schemesconsisted of four bypasses of villages and towns of varying sizes, a major cross-country dualcarriageway completing a link between the M1 and A1, a new cross-river bridge in Belfast, and theremoval of an important bottleneck on an arterial into Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The intention of thestudies was to identify, so far as possible, any generation of new traffic beyond local reassignment.Five of the studies had to rely on measurements of traffic flow only, while two others were also ableto implement roadside interviews.... These studies provide some of thebest systematic evidence for the traffic generation caused by new roads, and the report makes anumber of recommendations regarding possible future studies. Editor's note: The link below is to to 500 Kb PDF document.

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