Improving Urban Access
Improving Urban Access

Author: Elliott D. Sclar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-31

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1317404351

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. To thrive, they will need efficient and sustainable forms of transport, but to achieve this, the financial incentives guiding urban transport operation must change – and change rapidly. Urban transport plays a critical role in determining the social, environmental and economic shape of cities. Improving Urban Access: New Approaches to Funding Transport Investment provide innovative ideas on how we might reorganize transport finance to ensure that it is suited to serving the social, environmental and economic principles that must guide future urban living. Continuing the work begun by its predecessor, Urban Access for the 21st Century, the authors assess the complexity of implementing new finance approaches and suggest ways to make positive and radical changes. Although the range of revenue raising options remain limited to users, indirect beneficiaries, and the general public, these can be recast to transform the way transport is paid for and therefore how its services are delivered. New finance models only succeed when they are intrinsically linked to the economic, social, cultural and political forces that create urban life. Together these volumes provide a starting point for the deeper research and policy design needed to successfully create urban transport finance systems that can address the challenges that 21st century cities present.

Rethinking America's Highways
Rethinking America's Highways

Author: Robert W. Poole

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-08-03

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 022655760X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A transportation expert makes a provocative case for changing the nation’s approach to highways, offering “bold, innovative thinking on infrastructure” (Rick Geddes, Cornell University). Americans spend hours every day sitting in traffic. And the roads they idle on are often rough and potholed, with exits, tunnels, guardrails, and bridges in terrible disrepair. According to transportation expert Robert Poole, this congestion and deterioration are outcomes of the way America manages its highways. Our twentieth-century model overly politicizes highway investment decisions, short-changing maintenance and often investing in projects whose costs exceed their benefits. In Rethinking America’s Highways, Poole examines how our current model of state-owned highways came about and why it is failing to satisfy its customers. He argues for a new model that treats highways themselves as public utilities—like electricity, telephones, and water supply. If highways were provided commercially, Poole argues, people would pay for highways based on how much they used, and the companies would issue revenue bonds to invest in facilities people were willing to pay for. Arguing for highway investments to be motivated by economic rather than political factors, this book makes a carefully-reasoned and well-documented case for a new approach to highways.

Transportation Finance for the 21st Century
Transportation Finance for the 21st Century

Author:

Publisher: Transportation Research Board

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780309062145

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The conference was organized as a national forum to provide information on new approaches to financing all modes of transportation, to share success stories, and to stimulate discussion on the merits and drawbacks of new techniques, which are known collectively as innovative finance. Innovative finance in transportation is a diversified set of public- and private-sector actions that move beyond the traditional federal-aid and state-aid funding processes. Nearly 500 federal, state, and local government officials and private-sector representatives attended the conference. Conference participants grappled with the growing inadequacy of traditional funding sources and how to find new means to finance the continued maintenance and improvement of the nation's transportation infrastructure.

Urban Access for the 21st Century
Urban Access for the 21st Century

Author: Elliott Sclar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-03-05

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1317933893

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book sets out a road map for the provision of urban access for all. For most of the last century cities have followed a path of dependency on car dominated urban transport favouring the middle classes. Urban Access for the 21st Century seeks to change this. Policies need to be more inclusive of the accessibility needs of the urban poor. Change requires redesigning the existing public finance systems that support urban mobility. The aim is to diminish their embedded biases towards automobile-based travel. Through a series of chapters from international contributors, the book brings together expertise from different fields. It shows how small changes can incentivize large positive developments in urban transport and create truly accessible cities.

Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment
Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment

Author: Edward L. Glaeser

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-11-11

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 022680058X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Policy-makers often call for expanding public spending on infrastructure, which includes a broad range of investments from roads and bridges to digital networks that will expand access to high-speed broadband. Some point to near-term macro-economic benefits and job creation, others focus on long-term effects on productivity and economic growth. This volume explores the links between infrastructure spending and economic outcomes, as well as key economic issues in the funding and management of infrastructure projects. It draws together research studies that describe the short-run stimulus effects of infrastructure spending, develop new estimates of the stock of U.S. infrastructure capital, and explore the incentive aspects of public-private partnerships (PPPs). A salient issue is the treatment of risk in evaluating publicly-funded infrastructure projects and in connection with PPPs. The goal of the volume is to provide a reference for researchers seeking to expand research on infrastructure issues, and for policy-makers tasked with determining the appropriate level of infrastructure spending"--

Refocusing Transportation Planning for the 21st Century
Refocusing Transportation Planning for the 21st Century

Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board

Publisher: Transportation Research Board

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780309071239

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Two conferences on Refocusing Transportation Planning for the 21st Century were held in 1999 following passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The first conference focused on the identification of key trends, issues, and general areas of research. The results of Conference I, which produced stand-alone products, were used as input for Conference II. The second conference had the specific objective of producing research problem statements. Its mission was to review the results of the first conference by developing these statements. Conference II produced a number of detailed research statements that form the basis for the National Agenda for Transportation Planning Research. The proceedings of both conferences are presented in this report.