Road improvements and greenhouse gas emissions

Reducing the roughness of roads is a means of reducing fuel consumption of vehicles, and therefore also of greenhouse gas emissions. This paper uses models developed by the Bureau of Transport Economics (BTE) in Australia to estimate costs and emissions reductions associated with progressively lower roughness levels of Australian highways. The analysis covers the period 1996-2015. Total, average and marginal costs are estimated for each of four 'snapshot' Sears: 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. The results provide an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of reducing the roughness of highways as a greenhouse gas mitigation measure. Other benefits and equity effects of such a measure are also discussed.