Environmental protection, economic efficiency and intermodal competition in freight transport

The awareness of the consequences of a further rise in transport for the environment has not only been a matter of concern for scientific researchers but also for planners and policymakers. In fact, the environment is now an ever present factor in the new political agenda and issues of excessive traffic congestion and global atmospheric pollution are increasingly attracting administrators' attention. One of the most important scenarios proposed for the protection of the environment, taking into account the adverse effects of traffic, is the redistribution of freight transport demand. In this paper the Italian situation has been tested, evidencing productive sectors and regions really benefiting from a more effective redistribution of trade flows among existing links on the freight network. This pattern is estimated by evaluating substitution elasticities before and after the introduction of a pollution tax. Numerical simulations, in terms of reduction of pollution emissions and transportation costs, are also provided.