Considering the wide spectrum of problems that needs to be addressed in the administration of road systems in developing countries, the financing of low-volume roads in argentina deserves particular attention. In dealing with the overall problem of improving the efficiency in the assignment of resources within the public sector of theargentine economy, an analysis of the economic objectives of road financing is presented through a proposal leading to the implementation of a road pricing mechanism. One purpose is to present a cost structure model of the argentine road system to identify the optimal objective that would lead to an efficient and equitable system of roadfinancing. This analysis would make it possible to channel private resources to the maintenance of the road network that the country needs, as well as to return the concession of public works to a private sector as an instrument available for the financing of roads in argentina. On the other hand, this same analysis can be used to compare road system costs and revenues by type of vehicle and surface of road, from which it can be deduced that the present system of road user fees in argentina is producing an important hidden cross-subsidization from low-volume to primary-road users. This process, in turn, causes the overutilization of paved roads and the underutilization of rural--generally nonpaved--low-volume roads. This inefficiency in the assignment of the resources for roads calls for a profound revision of the present revenue system, which is unjust to the users. It is necessary to turn to a taxing policy that would function like an incentive--pricing to marginal costs, for example--for a more rational utilization of the roads in the country. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1291, Fifth international conference on low-volume roads, may 19-23, 1991, raleigh, north carolina, volume 1.
Abstract