The subject of this study is road investment in B.C. made through the Provincial Department of Highways in the years 19^6-71, The pattern of investment is described and is used to indicate policies and objectives being evolved over the period. An effort is also made to evaluate the impact of the investment in terms of the benefit to certain classes of road users. Data on investment were gathered from the Annual Reports of the Minister, and assembled according to area, item, time period and class of road. The nature of investment has been given close attention because it is felt that its role has been somewhat overlooked in the previous studies of the relationship between transport infrastructure and economic activity. That relationship has usually been treated in summary form, with highly generalized indices. There is an attempt in this study to find a rationale of spending to explain the variations between areas, and from which to draw inferences about policies. This leads on to closer examination of the trunk network. Some structural measures of improvement in the network were calculated, but were not very helpful. This study argues that the improvement has to be valued by some user before it is translated into increased accessibility and responses amongst economic activities. Because improvements mean different things to different users and non-users, different approaches to evaluation have to he taken. A large truck is chosen for the case of B.C., and operating costs are simulated for the roads existing in 1952, 1962 and 1971. The changes in truck operating costs are used to explore the meanings of ˈimprovementˈ and the ˈjustificationˈ of certain investments. An estimate of annual savings to trucks from road improvements is derived from the simulated costs. The approach through investment is found to aid understanding of route and network development. It provides criteria by which to evaluate other aspects of road development, such as the road needs of certain populations, and the effects of external connections and through paths. It reveals the highly variable per mile cost of links, and emphasizes the interdependence of different types of spending. It suggests a relationship between inter-urban and local spending and traffic, which should be worth following up in other situations. Among other things, it is discovered that there has been a tendency to spend an increasing proportion on the branch or feeder roads. In the last few years, there has been an increasing concentration on urban or near-urban roads for the relief of congestion. The purposes of roads and routes are seen to change over time. The pattern of spending has been much affected by the difficulty of road construction in B.C. Increases in election years have stood out markedly. These have ˈcostˈ the Province a significant amount through inflated contract prices. Some suggestions are made on how over-the-road savings could make their way through to freight rates, schedules and services, and thus affect the client economic activities. The estimate of annual savings of $15-20 million to large trucks is a conservative and partial measure of benefit. The aim was not a definitive measure of improvement and partial benefit, but to use the measure in different contexts and reveal the different meanings and quantities of improvement. Different ˈjustificationsˈ for link investment were provided from different perspectives. The interdependence of links and of investment allocations in the total system was emphasized. It is the main strength of this modified network perspective that it allows the simultaneous consideration of flows, structure, link importance and nodal accessibility. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

In the increasingly urban context of North America, urban transportation poses increasingly complex problems. Not the least of these is the problem of financing highway systems that are considered essential to the smooth and expeditious flow of goods and people within the cities. One difficulty arises out of the fragmented political jurisdictions that exist within the boundaries of most urban areas today. After agreement has been reached on the contribution, if any, by senior levels of government towards any major highway improvement in an urban area, the remaining cost has still to be allocated amongst the member municipalities in the area. Every municipal council is thus faced with the problem of assuming an additional cost for municipal services, i.e. for providing adequate, improved highway facilities. But current methods of allocating these costs do not clearly relate them to the benefits received by those who live and work in the municipality. Nor do they relate them to any discernible social policy. The main hypothesis of this paper is that it is possible to develop a formula that does relate the costs chargeable to any municipality to the benefits received by those who live and work in that municipality. This cost-sharing formula has been developed in this study. The basic assumptions on which its claim to equity is made are given . The social policies that could be considered are spelled out, and their justification for modifying the cost figures derived is examined. Practical recommendations for the use of this procedure are made, and the planning implications involved are considered. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Decisions made regarding road building have far-flung consequences. Spending money on roads means that other public goals such as farmland preservation, air quality improvement and provision of housing may be frustrated. In order for knowledgeable land-use decisions to be made, the full cost of roads needs to be examined. This thesis explores the issue of roadway land costs from a professional planning point of view. A method for calculating roadway land costs is developed and is then applied to provincially-funded roads in the Greater Vancouver region. The case study revealed that annual provincial roadway land costs amount to approximately $162 per automobile. Limited supplies of land and limited financial resources suggest that it may be time to examine approaches that would make it less necessary to add capacity to the existing road network. Expenditures on roads can be reduced by shifting from current "supply side" tactics. This thesis suggests various policies that could be enacted to effect such a change.

Decisions made regarding road building have far-flung consequences. Spending money on roads means that other public goals such as farmland preservation, air quality improvement and provision of housing may be frustrated. In order for knowledgeable land-use decisions to be made, the full cost of roads needs to be examined. This thesis explores the issue of roadway land costs from a professional planning point of view. A method for calculating roadway land costs is developed and is then applied to provincially-funded roads in the Greater Vancouver region. The case study revealed that annual provincial roadway land costs amount to approximately $162 per automobile. Limited supplies of land and limited financial resources suggest that it may be time to examine approaches that would make it less necessary to add capacity to the existing road network. Expenditures on roads can be reduced by shifting from current "supply side" tactics. This thesis suggests various policies that could be enacted to effect such a change. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The objective of this paper is to relate highway investment and economic growth in a regional context and to investigate the nature of this relationship. Temporal aspects are emphasised in so far as attention is focussed on the way in which economic activity leads or lags highway accessibility. A significant part of the economic development literature has been concerned with these lead-lag relationships. For this reason it is remarkable that so few studies have made a serious attempt to find out the nature of these relationships in a given region. Three aspects of the space-economy are singled out for analysis. These are the lead-lag relations between accessibility and economic activity, between traffic flow and link importance, and between economic growth in urban centres and distance to nearest larger centre. Concepts derived from the theory of graphs are used to simplify and operationally define the space-economy, and attention is paid to criteria for the inclusion of centres and highways in the abstract system. Regression analysis is used for classification purposes so that temporal trends in the residuals can be observed. Canonical correlation analysis is employed to reveal an underlying system of leads and lags in the data. Results show the existence of lagged relationships and the increasing spatial integration of the economy. Levels of activity are shown to have led highway improvement by some five years, which suggests that highway investment has not played the role of leading sector that it is sometimes held to perform. It is, therefore, conjectured that the primary, export-based activities are the leading sector and that these are identifiable with the leading regions of northern B.C. Results also show that highway improvement has led the levels of traffic flow. This feedback suggests that the highway investment programme has accelerated the growth of these regions and hence has fostered the regionally unbalanced growth patterns inherent in the B.C. economy. In addition to this the analysis implies that traffic flow has become more interregional in character. During the same period the settlement hierarchy has become regularly spaced. These trends are thought to be related to the development of a superstructure of tertiary activities directly upon the resource base as these are the economic functions most sensitive to highway improvements. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate