In the assessment of transport projects, the main tasks are to determine the physical feasibility and the financial viability of the proposals. In many studies, one or more of the following aspects are also examined, namely: the traffic effects, the socio-economic effects, environmental impacts, and road safety. The aim of this paper is fivefold: (1) to examine the socio-economic effects that are likely to accrue to the national and regional economies; (2) to assess to what extent the traditional evaluation framework and the method used will give an adequate account of the socio-economic effects; (3) to indicate how the wider socio-economic impacts (that have been identified but not included in the evaluation process) could be incorporated; (4) to determine the implications if the full range of socio-economic effects are not given explicit considerations; (5) to present the main findings of two case studies in The Netherlands. Section 2 gives an account of the different contexts in which transport projects evaluation can take place and the importance of having clear terms of reference. Section 3 describes briefly the evaluation process for different kinds of transport projects and the types of modelling that are commonly used to assist decision-making. Section 4 outlines the strength and weakness of the Cost-Benefit Analysis methodology as a means to measure the economic performance of project proposals. Section 5 provides a simple method of classification for the diverse socio-economic effects. Section 6 presents a short-list of methods to study the wider socio-economic impacts of large scale transport projects. Section 7 concludes with two case studies in the Netherlands to illustrate the different approaches and methods that can be used and a summary of the major findings. These are the Zuiderzee railway line study, and the Amsterdam orbital motorway.
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