The planning of regional transportation systems in Sweden

Improvement of transport infrastructure networks is generally considered to generate increased productivity. This correla­tion is a common argument in Swedish transportation planning that provides a rationale for investments in regional transportation systems. However, due to a num­ber of limitations in the planning and decision-making process, the development of effective transport infrastructure networks at the regional level is hampered. In this contribution the findings of a research project on Swedish regional transportation plan­ning are presented, which focuses on an analysis of current planning practise. This analysis is based on an evaluation of the recent planning process of the regional transport infrastructure plan for theKalmarregion. Issues that will be addressed are the disintegrated planning of regional transport systems, the lack of strategic planning in Swedish planning practise and the weak connections with other fields of public planning. The presentation concludes with a set of recom­mendations to improve the planning of regional transportation systems in Sweden.