The Finnish National Road Administration (FinnRA) set up a research programme "Community Impacts of Transport Planning", which aims to develop the decision-making procedure in transport and is to be carried out between 1995 and 1997. This paper presents a case study of freight transport in the Finnish brewing industry, that is part of this research programme. The effects of road improvements on transport costs were investigated by assigning the current outputs of the industry on the road networks for the years 1970 and 1995. Transport costs were estimated using calculation methods for modern vehicles. Environmental effects of exhaust gas emissions were estimated from traffic simulation models. The production and delivery costs of a typical brewing business were evaluated in four examples. The case study estimated that the transport costs of the brewing industry had decreased by about 50%, due to improvements of the main road network. 84% of this decrease was due to improved network capacity, and the other 16% was due to higher speed and shorter distances. Environmental costs decreased by 44% and accident costs by 59%. The improved road network has considerably reduced Finnish road freight costs. The paper finally indicates some guidelines for Finnish road transport policy.
Abstract