Advances in transport technology, aided by global communications, have reduced the time and distance separating the rich countries from the poor and have created an increasingly interdependent planet. But vast areas of the developing world remain isolated and immobile, their output and incomes minimal, their basic needs unmet, and their potential as producers and consumers unrealised. A world half immobilised and disconnected from the economic mainstream stands little chance of being adequately fed and supplied as billions of additional people come to inhabit the earth. The economic fortunes of all nations are now inextricably bound, and levels of living for all peoples will depend on extending the transportation system that is a prerequisite of progress in other sectors. Transportation is not the only ingredient of economic development, but without it little else can succeed in modernising agriculture, promoting industry and responding to the further growth of urbanisation. A collaborative international effort is required to design the strategy and to organise and finance an accelerated effort to complete the global transportation system and further economic development objectives. (A)
Abstract