EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC TRANSPORT PLANNING IN SWEDEN, PROJECTS AND ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC AREAS

Part of the strategic transport planning work carried out in Sweden during 1999 encompassed analysis of 12 strategic areas. TOI has evaluated 4 of the reports from this work. These 4 reports deal with: road maintenance; traffic safety; demand for passenger transport; and railway systems. For road maintenance, in certain areas conclusions must be considered as preliminary awaiting the results of ongoing R&D work. An important topic that is not dealt with in the report is productivity in road maintenance. The report on traffic safety is too focused on measures in road systems. Despite some shortcomings, the report provides valuable input to the planning process. The analysis of the future demand for passenger transport is hampered by delays in the development of the model, but the results presented seem generally to be realistic. The main shortcoming of the railway system analysis is the inadequate treatment of the demand for railway transport. A major input in the planning process is cost benefit analysis for different projects. From the sample of projects evaluated, some suggestions are made for improvement in methods. However, the main shortcoming overall is poor documentation and quality control.