SOCIAL ASPECTS OF AUSTRALIAN ROADS

This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the social aspects of the Australian road system. The conceptual framework of this study was initially constructed around the concepts of accessibility (quality of access as perceived by road users) and proximity (externality effects as experienced by non-users). To identify the practical nature and dimensions of this framework and to extend it further, the initial stages of the study developed along three complementary lines: a search of newspaper articles, a survey of interest groups and search conferences in Tumut and Wollongong. This extended framework then served as a basis for an attitude questionnaire, to assess the views of road users and non-users on the adequacy of the current road system. The main issues that emerged from these lines of inquiry were road funding, road standards and traffic volumes, and their interrelationship with the perceived quality of access. Proximity effects, particularly those due to heavy coal trucks, featured prominently in the Wollongong search conference but, according to the attitude questionnaire results, did not appear to be major issues and their limited incidence was confined to urban areas. It was also evident that the opinions and attitudes of individual respondents in search conferences and expressed through the questionnaire avoided the extremes of position frequently adopted by special interest groups and in newspaper articles. (TRRL)

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• Corporate Authors:

  Australian Government Publishing Service

  P.O. Box 84
  Canberra, A.C.T. 2600,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • BRADLEY, R
  • KUNZ, M
  • Wellfare, D
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 59 p.
• Serial:
  • Australian Bureau of Transport Economics Occas Pap
  • Publisher: Australian Government Publishing Service
  • ISSN: 0157-7085

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Consumer behavior; Consumer preferences; Finance; Financing; Networks; Roads; Social factors; Standards; Traffic volume; Travelers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road networks
• ITRD Terms: 9139: Accessibility; 2267: Attitude (psychol); 8006: Australia; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 244: Financing; 2755: Highway; 9147: Interview; 746: Private transport; 637: Road closure; 1053: Road network; 2253: Sociology; 671: Traffic flow; 393: Vicinity
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Highways; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00459792
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Report/Paper Numbers: No. 68
• Files: ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 31 1986 12:00AM