Planning and Financing Transport—Where Civil Engineers Fit in

Abstract

It is contended that there is no need for a general strategy towards transport infrastructure, since expenditure on infrastructure is simply a subset of expenditure in the transport system as a whole. Transport policy is considered as a governmental or societal response to technology and consumer preference, applying to the whole transport system. Aspects of policy relating to the control and management of various transport modes are discussed, first for the United Kingdom and then for the later developing countries. A distinction is drawn between regulatory policy, which is seen as fundamental, and policy arising from public ownership, which is seen as accidental. In the light of the discussion on policy, civil engineers are judged to have no unique role in decisions on policy. There is discussion of the important contribution that civil engineers can nonetheless make arising from their orientation towards practical achievement. Ways and means of increasing the influence of civil engineers are discussed, inter alia by increasing the number of women in the profession.