The wider economic benefits of transport appraisal

Project details

Full project title: The wider economic benefits of transport appraisal - Review of usability of Department for Transport guidance

Sponsors: Department for Transport

Project Manager: Professor Phil Goodwin

Co-researcher: Dr Charles Musselwhite

Project partners: British Market Research Bureau

Start date: July 2007

Finish date: October 2007

Project report: Download the final project report (PDF)

Project summary

In 2005 The Department for Transport issued new guidance on how to assess the wider economic benefits of transport investments, such as impacts on employment, economic growth and productivity.

The project was aimed at reviewing the experience of consultants who had applied this advice to the appraisal of real proposed projects, including urban and interurban road and public transport schemes, mostly involving major new infrastructure. Semi-structured interviewing formats were used in twelve confidential discussions, eliciting the views and insights of a mixture of senior and middle-ranking technical consultants, who represent the greatest body of experience of the theoretical and practical problems involved.