Motorway investment, industrial transport costs, and sub-regional growth: A case study of the M62

Dodgson J. S. (1974) Motorway investment, industrial transport costs, and subregional growth: A case study of the M62, Reg. Studies 8, 75-91. This paper is concerned with the effects of motorway investment on regional economic growth. The role of regional development benefits in cost-benefit appraisals of highway investments is briefly reviewed. A model relating areal employment growth rates to transport costs and to other variables is developed, and then tested for a 30-zone area of the North of England using multiple regression techniques. Transport cost indices of accessibility developed in this model are then used to calculate the effect of a particular motorway, the M62, on industrial transport costs in the areas through which it passes. These results are used to give a very tentative indication of the employment changes in these areas which might follow the highway's construction.