Social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure: a survey for the Netherlands

In this paper the social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure are investigated for The Netherlands. In the present study we pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure, the indirect costs of land use caused by infrastructure and the costs of infrastructure as barriers in - and the fragmentation of -the landscape. The paper gives an overview of the problems associated with measuring the land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are given of the land use claims (in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the land related cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transport modes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail, aircraft). We find that direct and indirect land use equals respectively 7.2% and 1.6% of the total area of The Netherlands. Indirect land use is especially important for aviation. The importance of indirect land use is shown by the value of land involved. The economie valuation of the indirect land use is about 16% of the total land related costs of transport infrastructure.