Transport infrastructure: Investment and planning. Policy and research aspects

Substantial resources are devoted to infrastructure investment planning. However, considerable distance remains between planning outcomes on the one hand and policy decisions and implementation on the other. This paper looks at the reasons for this difference form the perspective of the experience of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport. A first potential reason for the weaker than expected role of planning in infrastructure policies is the weak data availability. Institutional changes of the transport sector do not facilitate an the upgrade of their quality. Secondly, despite enormous efforts to improve planning methods and institutions there is no obvious convergence to a "best practice". This considerably contributes to the difficulties of international coordination of infrastructure policies, despite the growing demand for such coordination given the rapid processes of international economic integration. Finally, research should help to feed back the results of ex post evaluations of infrastructure investment projects and programs into the planning process.