Research 350 - NZ Transport Agency

4. APPROACHES TO ASSESSING REGIONAL ECONOMIC AND OTHER DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS
Though not explicitly pointed out by ECTM, it should be noted that these impacts might
occur within a defined region or more broadly across several regions, and that much depends
on how a ‘region’ is defined. For example, to the extent that jobseekers in one region access
‘more distant jobs’ located in another region, new transport links may result in somewhat
ambiguous outcomes, a point taken up below.
A related problem, both with the available literature and regional development scheme
objectives themselves, is that little clear distinction is often made between investment aimed
at improving links investment within a given (typically disadvantaged) region and that aimed
at improving links between such regions and others. The two can be blurred in reality (e.g. a
new freeway link which serves regional towns and connects to main centres outside the area).
However, a clearer initial distinction may help to hone in on specific issues such as the ‘two
way road problem’ (discussed below) connected with the latter of these effects.
Whether theory is involved or not, regional development themes have found particular
resonance within the EU with a focus on investment in the infrastructure of disadvantaged
regions and promotion of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN) as an instrument of
EU policy. The TEN projects are intended to improve competitiveness, income, output and
employment within the EU as a whole by providing peripheral regions of the EU with better
access to economic centres. This may also foster the (non-economic) goal of improved social
cohesion. On the local (and national) levels the improved accessibility offered by transport
projects is seen as an aid to reducing regional disparities in terms of employment, income
and wealth and fostering social cohesion (van Excel, Rienstra, Gommers, Pearman &
Tsamboulas 2002).
Examples of similar thinking on a smaller scale are common. Brown, Copeland & Co. Ltd
(2004) suggest that the attraction or retention of freight and passengers through Centre Port
and Wellington International Airport could be economic benefits arising from the
Transmission Gully project. Mees (2001) cites common perceptions that Melbourne’s Western
Ring Road will promote economic growth in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs.
SACTRA also pointed to many such claims, noting arguments that improved transport links
can overcome investor perceptions of distance, peripherality and disadvantage (SACTRA
1999, para. 2.33).
Thus, the Welsh Economy Research Unit (1997) argued that improved local road access was
an important issue in influencing the location decisions of recent investors and provided for
new income and employment opportunities in the region. The Black Country Development
Corporation (1997) indicated that direct access to 3 million square feet of
industrial/commercial floor space provided by the Black Country Spine Road was critical to its
program of regenerating derelict land (SACTRA 1999, paras. 2.34, 2.36). Other submissions
pointed to the potential positive local effects of providing for direct Channel Tunnel services
to the north of England and to Scotland and for providing a motorway link further into
England’s south-west in order to overcome perceptions of distance from key markets
(SACTRA 1999, para. 2.33).
In practice, the provision of improved transport links may have more ambiguous outcomes.
on both regional and national economies. A variety of case studies, drawn from the literature
and cited by Banister and Berechman (2000a) and SACTRA (1999) is documented below:
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