This paper provides a short history of transport appraisal in the UK from the mid-1960s, when Christopher Foster joined the Ministry of Transport, to the present day. It traces the broadening out from transport user costs and benefits to a framework approach encompassing environmental and wider economy and land development impacts. Current challenges are identified, including the appraisal treatment of carbon emissions, valuing improved resilience of transportation infrastructure, and the place-based analysis inherent in ‘levelling up’. For the future, greater emphasis should be placed on analysis at the policy and programme levels. This requires high level review and political commitment.
Mackie et al. (Sun,) studied this question.