An important dimension of the European Commission’s recent Transport Policy review has been the conceptual shift from demand management to a greater focus on the supply side of transport, where each mode needs to work harder to contain the negative environmental effects of growing demand. In other words, as stated in a recent European Environment Agency report, “modal shift towards rail and inland shipping is not in all circumstances an efficient way to reduce the environmental impact”. The implication of this policy chance has been to place the “burden of proof” on the road sector to improve its performance at a time when there is widespread concern that Kyoto and other environmental targets are not being met by the Member States. This paper however will argue that enormous progress has been made by the road sector and that the technologies are for the most part in place to change the environmental “footprint” of road construction and management while generating new opportunities for road sector stakeholders. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting