Success of the Vasco da Gama Bridge?

Background:

The constructions of the Vasco da Gama Bridge, in Lisboa, Portugal started in 1995 and after 3 years of work it was opened to the traffic in March, 1998. This is the longest bridge in Europe with its length of 17,2 km. The two goals of the bridge - clearly declared before this project - were accepted.

1. First, it aimed for the decongestion of the other bridge of Lisbon. The 25th of April Bridge was built in the sixties and the traffic has heavily increased since then, thus some measures needed to be taken.

2. Second, it meant to create the north-south connection around the capital city.

After the first bridge went into use, many inhabitants and firms moved to the other side of the river Tejo opting for a further location. However, it led to an increased congestion cost for those who traveled from Spain in order to trade or who decided to commute instead of living in the central business district. To sum it up, the goals of a new bridge were focused on lowering both transportation costs and congestion.

Theory: What is expected according to the theory?

As the Vasco da Gama Bridge is not the first connection between the north and the south side of the river Tejo (Tagus), the main goal was the reduction of congestion on the 25th of April Bridge. In our analysis we should ignore the impacts of the first bridge and focus on the second one. According to the theory, the bigger the city is (that means a larger number of firms), the higher the congestion costs are. If there are many companies in the city, congestion acts as a spreading force that stimulates firms to move from the central business district to the periphery zone, where traffic is lower.

The core model of new economic geography (congestion is not included) says that if transport costs are low then agglomeration is the stable equilibrium. Adding congestion to the theory, spreading equilibrium becomes more general and agglomeration is only an exception. According to the two-region core model (Brakman et al.), even a small change in congestion can easily lead to a new long-run equilibrium. As transport costs start to decrease, first partial then total agglomeration will develop. The further shrinking of costs result in spreading as a stable equilibrium again.

Although in Lisbon’s case it is not about cities. Decreasing congestion is the main aim of the bridge. So, based on this theory, the new equilibrium after the opening of the bridge depends on the previous balance in Lisbon. Assuming that building the 25^th of April resulted in spreading equilibrium, the Vasco da Gama Bridge should foster agglomeration and at the same time reduce congestion on the other bridge.

Reality: What had happened?

As for the decongestion of the 25th of April, traffic experts agreed that this aim can be reached without building a new bridge. Another, even better solution could have been achieved with focusing on the significant improvements of the railways and public transport connections between the two banks of the river. However, the Vasco da Gama Bridge was built.

According to a document from 1994 it had been estimated in advance that the new bridge would stimulate traffic above the annual transport growth rates without having too much impact on the other bridge. As we see on the table below, the expectations came true.

Source: Melo, J.

As data shows, after opening the Vasco da Gama Bridge the total amount of vehicles grew dramatically while the traffic of the 25^th of April Bridge did not represent significant decrease. Why? A new bridge always generates urban and traffic growth, as we can see in our case.

So, can we explain these empirical evidences with the transport coming from the East in order to trade with the Centrum of Portugal? As they do not have to either be in the traffic jam or bypass the whole river in order to get into the city, it should be the appropriate solution to reduce transport costs. Interestingly, according to a paper (Melo, J.), these traders prefer to use the bridge in Carregado that is about 30 km from Lisbon to the North and was built after the Vasco da Gama Bridge. This latest bridge seems to have become the main part of the north-south connection...

To sum it up, decreasing this level of congestion theoretically drives agglomeration forces. As the bridge did not stimulate so far development in the south, the theory seems to be confirmed on this side. However, we cannot observe any significant reduction in congestion on the 25^th of April Bridge either. So, the Vasco da Gama Bridge does not seem to reach its initial goals, although it has clearly positive effects in other areas.

Noémi Szabó 

References

Brakman et al. (2009). The New Introduction to Geographical Economics. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Melo, J. (2000). The Vasco da Gama Bridge on the Tagus Estuary: A paradigm of bad decision making, but good post-evaluation. World Transport Policy & Practice, 6(2). 20-30. p.

„Portugal celebrates opening of giant bridge” (1998).

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Texas Toll Roads: The Flawed Benefits and Costs

by Alexander Simmons

As Texas is faced with a burgeoning population and further economic development, its poor transportation infrastructure becomes a greater issue. In the past decade, the state has chosen to address this problem through toll roads financed by public-private partnerships. Currently, Texas lawmakers are debating building new toll roads or converting already existing highways into tolls. In theory, tolls help improve the mobility of the local population, prevent congestion, ameliorate road quality, decrease the amount of time needed to construct roads, increase development, boost productivity from time saved, and avoid tax increases. Many of these benefits are indeed factual and have little tradeoff; however, others are flawed. Moreover, there are costs associated with toll ways that policymakers seem unaware of. With its already widespread usage and possible expansion, it is important that policymakers consider the tradeoffs associated with toll roads.

Flawed Benefits

Congestion

Theory states that new toll roads decrease congestion by providing new road alternatives. However, toll roads often only solve congestion problems for a small portion of the population. Residents within a mile from the toll road usually get the highest amount of usage, while those further away are relegated to other more congested routes. Additionally, many citizens cannot financially afford to drive tolls regularly. Thus, there ends up being a lopsided share of traffic between the two road networks and lifestyle inequality. The toll ways are usually uncongested and sometimes receive sparse usage, while the free roads face heavy traffic that result in travel times that are twice that of the tolls.

Development

Theory urges that toll ways improve consumer access to local business and thus, further economic development along the road. However, there is little evidence to support this in the short run. According to Sukumar Kalmanje’s research, Texas toll ways attract additional trips to local business by a negligent 1% and thus, have almost no effect on short-term development. Although, in the long run, it is likely that economic development will follow the route of the toll way and lead to agglomeration. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence from Texas toll ways to support this argument.

Tax Increases

Due to Texas’s balance budget requirement, road funding cannot be done without either cutting another government program or increasing taxes. In theory, toll ways opt as a method of building roads without increasing taxes. Yet, tolls are essentially a consumption tax on driving. Instead of paying a road tax in a lump sum, residents contribute on a daily basis.

Costs

Toll Price Increases

Currently, all toll contracts in Texas grant private contractors the right to raise toll prices on an annual basis. These increases are often tied to an inflation based index or revenue maximization formula. Proponents insist that road prices should increase proportionally with the prices of other goods. However, this argument ignores importance of roads. Consumers have the option to remove other goods from their consumption basket, but cannot do the same with driving. Additionally, price increases are allowed during recessions or oil shocks and successfully worsen downturns.

Politically Unpopular

There is widespread distain for tolls in Texas. Despite their many benefits, Texans view them as a form of double taxation and resent the constant increase in prices. At some point, the general consensus of the population must be considered by representatives.

Unwanted Foreign Influence

Since most toll roads in the United States have been built by public agencies, there is virtually no private sector toll industry. Therefore, large toll contracts are frequently given to foreign companies. In the midst of an economic downturn and growing concerns of globalization, many critics cite this as a poor economic practice and claim it exposes the United States to security risks. In reality, the foreign firms originate from strong ally countries and employ almost entirely Americans on the projects. Thus, the foreign influence has no measurable negative effect. However, while this argument is not realistic, policymakers still must consider the general perception of the public.

Opportunity Costs

As with any government sponsored project, there are opportunity costs policymakers should consider. In this case, it its best to look at the opportunity costs within transportation infrastructure improvement. For instance, funding could be directed to public transportation options, which are severely lacking in Texas. If the general stigma attached to public transportation in Texas could be overcome, the economic gains and those that benefit could be much greater than in any road project. However, large scale public transportation projects require a substantial investment and at this point, there is little political support for such spending.

Conclusion

As policymakers debate about how to solve Texas’ infrastructure issues, it is important that they properly measure the often cited benefits of toll ways with the costs mentioned above. If purely publicly funded roads without tolls are no longer an option due to budget constraints and public transportation projects are off the table, toll roads built via public-private partnerships may indeed be the best option for Texans. However, this does not mean that policymakers can accept toll projects naively and ignore taxpayers’ opinions. 

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