Effects of Transport Infrastructure Plans on Climate Change. Application to the Spanish Strategic Transport and Infrastructure Plan 2005¿2020 (PEIT)

Abstract

The inclusion of strategic environmental effects of transport infrastructure plans in assessment methodologies is an active research field. This paper addresses this issue and defines a methodology for the evaluation of climate change effects of the extension of High Capacity road and rail networks at strategic levels. This evaluation is carried out using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and a policy assessment model (TREMOVE). The methodology is tested with its application to the road and rail network extensions included in the Spanish Strategic Transport and Infrastructure Plan 2005¿2020 (PEIT). Results show that, on the one hand, the PEIT road network extension results in a 2.3% improvement in network accessibility, which accounts for a 2.7% increase in total surface transport greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On the other hand, the significant 34.4% improvement in rail accessibility accounts for only a 0.23% increase. These results clearly reflect the current modal unbalance of the road transport sector and stress the need for accompanying measures in order to encourage a modal shift from road to rail, in order to take full advantage of network accessibility improvements derived from infrastructure investments.