Road planning: a view of the future

This paper presents a view on the future of road planning. Firstly, it indicates the need to take a relatively long term look (30 years or so) at the future, and discusses some key issues that will affect road planning in the years to come. These key issues include future road travel, fuel and transport, road safety, urban traffic congestion, pavement condition and road funding. It then describes a comprehensive and flexible road planning process, which involves preparation of a long term conceptual (and perhaps visionary) framework including consideration of alternative future funding sources, within which more detailed specific planning studies and short term action plans and programs can be developed for implementation within existing financial resources (a).