Economic appraisal of European transport projects: the state-of-the-art revisited

Substantial investment has been made at national and European level in tran sport infrastructure over the past 50 years and is likely to continue in th e future. The need to appraise transport projects in economic and social te rms has developed alongside this in both scope and complexity. The state-of -the-art in the economic appraisal of transport projects is reviewed, progr ess is assessed and future challenges are identified. The review addresses the general framework, treatment of major impacts, presentation of outputs and issues such as uncertainty. It draws on national practice in Western Eu ropean countries, which varies substantially reflecting a range of cultural and economic differences. Some points of commonality exist and the princip le of monetizing direct transport impacts is generally accepted. Progress h as been made towards the measurement of environmental impacts, but the asse ssment of the wider impacts remains underdeveloped. Increased sophisticatio n and complexity has brought increasing data and presentation requirements, where computerized decision support methods have potential. Many challenge s exist for the future of appraisal and the review is concluded with a disc ussion of some key issues. At the heart of these is the continuing debate o ver the relative roles of national and European government in decision-maki ng and resource allocation.