ABSTRACT
Transportation investments are generally declared to be projects meant to solve or ameliorate transportation problems such as traffic congestion, or to make alternative modes of travel available. At times, other objectives, for instance, road safety and environmental improvement, are said to motivate these projects. Frequently left unstated, however, are the political considerations, including funding availability, job creation and equity effects, which are oftentimes the main forces stimulating the investment. We can therefore plausibly argue that in the public sphere, any debate over efficiency improvements flowing from public investments in transportation is rather secondary to distributional differences and control over funding.
