Quantification in money terms of the environmental effects of roads and traffic is desirable for inclusion in cost-benefit analyses undertaken by planners. An experiment designed to test the viability of obtaining evaluations by use of the TRRL environmental simulator is reported. Over 70 subjects representing 44 households in Camberley and Woking compared two pairs of films representing environments before and after changes in road and traffic characteristics. Subjects made scale assessments of the environments and estimated the amount of money that would compensate their households for disturbance that they envisaged changes from 'before' to 'after' would cause. Results indicated that respondents agreed on the unpleasantness of the noise of the traffic on each film, but differed in assessments of outlook (appearance) and desirability (of the filmed location as a place in which to live). there were no consistent relationships between the assessments and the monetary evaluations. Respondents generally had little confidence in their evaluations despite being able to make direct 'before' and 'after' comparisons, and despite the very specific compensation question. It is concluded that the controlled conditions afforded by the simulator do not overcome the difficulties inherent in asking members of the public to place a monetary value on their experience of environmental disturbance. (Author/publisher)
Abstract