GeoBase in Action
Road infrastructure costs: an economic model uses GeoBase National Road Network (NRN) data
Transport Canada's development of a strategic framework to achieve its vision for the national transportation system took the National Road Network (NRN) along for the ride.
A recent three-year investigation into the full costs of transportation included the comprehensive financial and social costs associated with infrastructures, services, vehicles, and with the movement of people and goods. Social costs specifically refer to the costs of accidents, noise, congestion delays and environmental damages.
Transport Canada examined issues related to transmodal transportation as well as specific modes: road, air, rail and marine.
With respect to the road mode, The Full Cost Investigation on Transportation in Canada relied on GeoBase's NRN layer plus technical studies to estimate the value of the road network by province, including land value within these infrastructures.
"The NRN layer was the source data for categorizing the road network by road class", explains Bruno Jacques, Director of Transport Canada's Economic and Environmental Analysis & Research Division.
A linear road cost model, plus a property value database by type of use, served as inputs to estimate the road network costs by road class and by province. The property value estimate takes into account adjacent property land use, such as agricultural, industrial, commercial or residential, for each road segment.
One objective of this project is to be able to make realistic comparisons between different modes for representative routes or shipments. Another objective is to identify the stakeholder who bears the costs. The results are important for the creation and assessment of policies in the transportation sector.