Abstract Manager

The municipal transportation network and its economic success are closely intertwined. At the individual level, residents rely on a predictable and efficient transportation system to travel between home, work, retail, schools, and leisure destinations. At the broader economic level, corporations need transportation networks that support their full supply chain, from the movement of raw materials and workers, to and from facilities to the distribution of their products, and services to the final consumers. Without a quality transportation system, the productive capacity of the economy will operate at less than its potential.

Given the close relationship between transportation and economic development, it is becoming common to value transportation projects based on their ability to contribute to economic growth to create a prosperous environment for development and enhanced livability for residents.  There are two ways that this is done:

• Direct impacts of transportation spending on job creation and income in related industries
• Productivity impacts enabled by the investment, including enhanced mobility and travel time savings. These savings can help stimulate further growth as a result of higher household incomes, improved business productivity, and increased market access

While in some cases, these productivity impacts can raise an already-high quality of life, in other cases they can make critical differences in an individual’s ability to thrive. Consider public transit investments that cut travel times by 20-minutes for a cross-town journey, or networks of safe sidewalks and crossings enabling residents without a car to safely access essential services. It is therefore important to consider how transportation investments can help reduce inequities in society, so each individual has quality access to transportation and the economic opportunities that stem from it. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has largely accelerated trends such as fewer commutes to work with increased connections to amenities and services, which presents opportunities for refocusing municipal transportation networks.

The link between transportation and economic growth began with the idea that better transportation improves economic development: increasing market access, by building transportation infrastructure, improves trade and increases economic growth. The relationship considers: where “net-new” transportation links create potential for travel; roadway widening versus transportation demand management where reductions in congestion link to economic growth; and, the neighbourhood scale by providing benefits to businesses in the form of foot traffic and co-location of firms in concentrated areas.