ABSTRACT
Before considering specific issues raised in Paaswell’s chapter it is worth briefly considering the relevance of such US legislation for other countries, particularly in western Europe, and hence how important it is to those in other countries. Although heterogenous, the economies of western Europe and also of the US have great similarities in being private,
market orientated, democratic countries with similar standards of living and high demand for fast, convenient and dependable transportation services (see for example Pucher, Ioannides and Hirschman, 1993). The US and western European countries, have experienced considerable increases in demand for transportation infrastructure, while facing financial constraints which limit investment and subsidies. Increasingly environmental limitations on transportation policies have also attained greater importance. These factors have arguably made governments more amenable to new ways of financing and operating transportation infrastructure, as illustrated by ISTEA in the US and other examples elsewhere.
