Holistic
Modern transportation systems have pervasive and far-reaching effects on society and the environment. Mobility and other benefits of modern transportation arrive with many, serious undesired consequences: deaths and injuries in transport accidents, pollution of air, water and groundwater, noise congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, to mention but a few. In this book leading international researchers explore the issues and concepts and define the state of knowledge concerning transportation’s full costs and benefits.
Individual works of excellence
As mentioned, 20 or so academics, from around the world, including the USA, Germany, Australia and France, have submitted their own ideas on costs and benefits. Displaying my ignorance, I have to admit I don’t know that many of them; perhaps I should, but I recognize their respective universities as leading institutions in the field of transportation. Two of them I do know: I have met Douglass Lee of USDOT in person, when attending the TRB Annual Meeting in 2004. He is head of the Transportation Economics committee at TRB. And I’ve run into David Hensher, ETC 2005 I think it was. David Hensher is one of the major figures in transportation research, so if both Douglass and Hensher are contributors than this IS a good book. Well, maybe they were not so famous 12 years ago, but ceratinly now.
Outdated?
The book is not new. It was first published in 1997, and although the empirical data may no longer be anywhere near true, the principles and methodologies still hold.