Three types of investigations were made: those dealing with the economic base and land use of an area, those dealing with anlyzing the comparative worth or feasibility of transportation routes, and those designed to reveal the impact of the route on an area. Economic studies for transportation routes in rural or under-developed areas must be concerned mostly with impact on utilization of natural resources and industrial benefits rather than on transportation user services. The user benefits must necessarily play a minor role in determining need for and location of transportation routes. In developed and urban areas, on the other hand, user benefits carry much greater weight. But here, too, we recognize the importance of thoroughly considering the differing community, aesthetic, and social values of alternate proposals. Transportation must be viewed as part of a total social system and not as an end in itself. /author/
Abstract