There is a debate in France and in Europe on the magnitude of the external costs of road transport and on the ways to cover the full cost of transport by the users. The author proposes a diagnosis of the situation in France, with a detailed description of the methods of estimation. Despite major uncertainties regarding monetary cost allocation between users and global estimation of external costs, some conclusions are robust: the specific income from road users exceeds the monetary costs for the investment, maintenance, and operations of the road system, but does not cover the full cost, including external effects. Car users in urban areas and diesel users in general are in the most unbalanced situations. A prospect towards the year 2010 suggests that a general internalisation principle ("polluter pay" principle though fuel tax for example) would provide a small environmental relief only, while disagregated strategies focused in traffic categories and types of external effects could reduce significantly the environmental burden. (A)
Abstract