Commercializing management and financing of roads in developing and transition countries

The road sector reforms undertaken by a growing number of developing and transition countries during the past 10-20 years are described. The problems these countries share with industrialized countries and the additional factors that also affect them--large backlogs of deferred maintenance, an acute shortage of funds and dysfunctional road agencies--are also described. The paper then describes how these countries have restructured road management by separating planning and management of roads from implementation of works, provided road agencies with more autonomy, created more effective oversight, introduced annual performance agreements and turned the road agency into a more commercial organization paying market-based wages. In relation to road financing, road tolls and toll roads are touched on briefly before the new style road funds that have recently been set up in these countries are detailed. The paper then describes how they were established and their basic operating modalities--revenues only from charges related to road use (with one notable exception), no abstraction of revenues from other sectors, proactive management and oversight provided by a board of directors that includes members nominated by road users and the business community.     

Shipwrecks: The past in the present

Abstract

Historic shipwrecks are a recently recognized group of historic resources. These shipwrecks attract sport divers, archeologists, and treasure hunters. States have always claimed the historic shipwrecks embedded in their submerged lands. States manage these resources as part of their historic preservation programs. However, since 1981, state authority has been challenged by the federal court sitting in admiralty. Cases have been decided in Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas, and Georgia; however, only one Florida case went against the states but the expensive litigation has been a drain on state treasuries.

Bills currently before the U.S. Congress will affirm state title and encourage states to put effort into state programs for historic shipwrecks. This article briefly describes the populations interested in shipwrecks, current case law, state law and state programs, and finally the federal legislative proposal.     

The Decline of the Artisanal Fisheries in Mediterranean Coastal Areas: The Case of Cap de Creus (Cape Creus)

This article examines the sociocultural, economic, and environmental causes of the decline of the artisanal fisheries in the rocky coast of Cape Creus (NW Mediterranean) over the past decades. The changes that have occurred over time have favored trawlers, purse-seiners, shellfish fisheries, and tourism activities, to the detriment of artisanal fisheries. This article shows that the establishment of a marine reserve in 1998 could not reverse the observed decline in the artisanal fisheries. This raises the necessity of implementing a fishery management plan integrated into a coastal management plan, which should accompany the habitat protection. These plans could assist in the maintenance and the sustainable development of the artisanal fishing sector in Cape Creus as well as in other Mediterranean coastal areas where artisanal fisheries are also declining.     

Comparison of inter‐city bi‐modal split models

Using data collected from rail and air passengers on two inter‐city routes in the U.K., seven different model formulations were set up and tested in order to ascertain the most appropriate model format. As a result of the work carried out, it is concluded that a simple Entropy‐type model based on the theoretical work of A. G. Wilson and utilising a linear generalised cost function is the most suitable. Other useful parameters emerging from the work are perceived values of travel time, and a weighting factor for night travel.     

Study on rail corrugation of a metro tangential track with Cologne-egg type fasteners

In Chinese metro lines, rail corrugation on both tangential and tight curved tracks with Cologne-egg type fasteners is very severe. Based on the viewpoint of friction-induced vibration causing rail corrugation, the rail corrugation on a tangential track with Cologne-egg type fasteners is studied in this paper. A vibration model of an elastic multiple-wheelset-track system with Cologne-egg type fasteners is established. Both the complex eigenvalue analysis and the transient dynamic analysis are performed to study the stability and the dynamic performance of the wheelset-track system. The simulation results show that a low rail support stiffness value is responsible for rail corrugation on the tangential track. When the Cologne-egg fasteners characterised by a lower stiffness value are replaced with the DTVI2 fasteners characterised by a higher stiffness value, rail corrugation disappears. However, rail corrugation on tight curved tracks cannot be suppressed using the same replacement. The above conclusions are consistent with the corrugation occurrences in actual metro tracks.     

Stakeholder Collaboration and Organizational Innovation in the Planning of the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study

Coastal managers have sought to enhance the collaborative inputs of stakeholder groups into management activities. Nonetheless, established organizational approaches have led to primarily consultative forms of engagement and constrained citizen involvement in formative activities. In Olympia, Washington, managers overseeing the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study (DEFS) implemented an innovative cooperative research planning initiative that diverged from conventional consultative processes. Stakeholders, rather than government officials, identified the research priorities for the socioeconomic component of this restoration feasibility study. This design method altered the traditional roles and responsibilities of different organizational actors, and the involvement of citizen groups in these formative activities changed the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental actors. Using conceptual frameworks from organizational sociology, this study develops insights into the behavior of the organizations involved with the DEFS cooperative planning effort, demonstrating how engaging stakeholders in formative research planning activities may foster new types of collaboration among coastal management organizations.     

Transport reviews prize

Bombay, the commercial capital of India, is suffering from traffic thrombosis. Bombay used to be an attractive city some three decades ago and was commonly referred to as ‘Bombay the Beautiful’. The picture is now, however, the opposite extreme.

The way Bombay has grown, an underground railway is no doubt justified. Unfortunately, the economy may not be able to afford it for many years to come. Low cost measures have therefore to be adopted like (a) development of land use with a view to controlling the traffic demand itself; (b) discouraging further growth in and around the existing congested central business district; (c) establishment of a counter‐magnet; (d) conversion of the mono‐centric pattern to a poly‐nucleated structure; (e) better pedestrian facilities; (f) intermediate public transport; (g) traffic management measures to maximize available road capacities; (h) bus priority measures; (i) creating an east‐west axis for activities to relieve the present north‐south axis.

This would form the core of transport strategy. Capital intensive rail projects will face severe shortage of funds. An additional road/rail link has also been suggested to the mainland. The congestion in Bombay can be relieved if the master plan is prepared for an integrated system. Traffic and town planning must go hand in hand with priority to traffic planning.     

Spatial differentiation,transport demands and transport model design in Kuwait

Foreign consultants still provide much of the analytical expertise for transport planning studies conducted in the Gulf States and other rapidly developing countries. Most of the systems analysis techniques used are adaptations of those developed for western urban areas. The populations of the Gulf States are unique in that they contain very large populations of foreign workers who have very different social and economic characteristics from the national populations. This paper describes these differences and shows how they have influenced the spatial evolution of the Kuwait metropolitan area and the associated transport demands. The paper also describes the analytical tools that are most appropriate for capturing the transport behaviour of residents of the Kuwait metropolitan area.     

Harmonizing heavy goods vehicle taxes in Europe: a British view

One of the biggest unresolved problems regarding the completion of the free internal transport market within the European community is the problem of harmonization of taxation on the road haulage industry. As the highest tax country, Britain might be expected to have to reduce its level of taxes as part of any harmonization.

This paper considers the current methodology of the British Department of Transport regarding the allocation of the track and external costs of road transport, in the light of developments in methodology and experience elsewhere in Western Europe and North America. We find a number of reasons for believing that, far from overstating the marginal social cost of use of roads by the road haulage industry, the current British approach actually understates it. Thus any move towards harmonizing tax levels may reduce taxes in Britain at a time when they should be increasing.     

MMAS in Belize

This article is part of a special issue that provides insight into global conservation science by analyzing a 5-year, $12.5 million global marine conservation science and policy program. In this article, we summarize the development of the program in Belize, which concentrated its effort in the southern portion of the country. The marine managed areas that developed in Belize took a variety of different forms, and involved a number of different government and private sector agencies and organizations.