This paper studies the impact of transport infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative on shipment times and trade costs. Based on a new data on completed and planned Belt and Road ...transport projects, Geographic Information System analysis is used to estimate shipment times before and after the Belt and Road Initiative. Two sets of data are computed to address different research questions: a global database based on an analysis of 1000 cities in 191 countries and 47 sectors and a regional database that focuses on more granular information (1818 cities) for Belt and Road economies only. The paper uses sectoral estimates of “value of time” to transform changes in shipment times into changes in ad valorem trade costs at the country-sector level. The findings show that the Belt and Road Initiative will significantly reduce shipment times and trade costs. For the world, the average reduction in shipment time will range between 1.2 and 2.5 percent, leading to reduction of aggregate trade costs between 1.1 and 2.2 percent. For Belt and Road economies, the change in shipment times and trade costs will range between 1.7 and 3.2 percent and 1.5 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Belt and Road economies located along the corridors where projects are built experience the largest gains. Shipment times along these corridors decline by up to 11.9 percent and trade costs by up to 10.2 percent.
Achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) has garnered significant attention from academia and policymakers worldwide. In this study, we examine the impact of ICT, technological innovation (TI), ...and environmental policy stringency (EPS) on SDI, considering the moderating role of governance quality (GQI) and transport infrastructure (TIS). A comprehensive dataset of 17 advanced nations is utilized from 1996 to 2021. To capture the dynamic and extreme marginal impacts of these policy instruments on SDG attainment, we employ the advanced technique of Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS). The results demonstrate that ICT has a positive and significant effect on SDGs, particularly when combined with high levels of governance quality (GOV) and transport infrastructure (TIS). Likewise, TI has a positive impact on SDGs, especially in the presence of strong governance. Furthermore, EPS exhibits a positive association with SDGs. The findings also reveal that while governance hurts SDGs, this effect diminishes when combined with higher levels of ICT, TI, and EPS, and when TIS positively moderates the relationships. The robustness estimations using DOLS and PCSE methods validate the FGLS findings. These results underscore the importance of ICT, TI, and EPS in advancing sustainable development. Moreover, they highlight the significance of good governance and robust transport infrastructure in maximizing the positive effects of these factors. These findings hold implications for policymakers and stakeholders involved in promoting sustainable development.
•Investigates the impact of ICT, TI, and EPS on achieving SDGs in 17 advanced nations from 1996 to 2021.•Our research captures the impact of policy instruments on SDG attainment, with moderating effects of GQI and TIS.•Positive link for all the explanatory factors on SDGs.•Governance shows a negative impact on SDGs, this effect diminishes in the presence of higher levels of ICT, TI, EPS.•Robustness estimations using DOLS and PCSE methods validate the FGLS findings.
Flooding may damage important transportation infrastructures, such as roads, railways and bridges, which need to be well planned and designed to be able to withstand current and possible future ...climate-driven increases in flood frequencies and magnitudes. This study develops a novel approach to predictive statistical modelling of the probability of flooding at major road-stream intersection sites, where water, sediment and debris can accumulate and cause failure of drainage facilities and associated road damages. Two areas in south-west Sweden, affected by severe floods in August 2014, are used in representative case studies for this development. A set of physical catchment-descriptors (PCDs), characterizing key aspects of topography, morphology, soil type, land use, hydrology (precipitation and soil moisture) and sediment connectivity in the water- and sediment-contributing catchments, are used for the predictive flood modelling. A main novel contribution to such modelling is to integrate the spatiotemporal characteristics of remotely-sensed soil moisture in indices of sediment connectivity (IC), thereby also allowing for investigation of the role of soil moisture in the flood probability for different road-stream intersections. The results suggest five categories of PCDs as especially important for flood probability quantification and identification of particularly flood-prone intersections along roads (railways, etc.) These include: channel slope at the road-stream intersection and average elevation, soil properties (mainly percentage of till), land use cover (mainly percentage of urban areas), and a sediment connectivity index that considers soil moisture in addition to morphology over the catchment.
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•We developed a new approach to predicting flood-prone road/rail-stream intersections based on catchment characteristics.•This includes multivariate statistical modelling, combining binomial logistic regression and Monte Carlo analysis.•The presented approach can aid planning and transportation authorities in estimating and mitigating flood hazards.
•Impact mechanism of land transport infrastructure is empirically examined.•Global data envelopment analysis and panel Tobit model are used for analysis.•Overall efficiency level of China's ...manufacturing industry is low.•We study the influential variables of energy and environmental efficiency.•Strong heterogeneity features exist between different regions.
The energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of China's manufacturing industry accounted for 12.8% and 15.5% of the world in 2016, respectively. On the other hand, the construction of land transport infrastructure has become the focal point of the Chinese government recently. However, there is very little literature investigating the influencing mechanism of land transport infrastructure on the energy and environmental efficiency of the sector. Therefore, it is crucial and meaningful to study how the latter is affected by the land transport infrastructure to alleviate global energy and environmental issues. Non-radial directional distance function was used to calculate two indicators measuring energy and carbon dioxide emissions performance in this paper. The panel Tobit model was then applied to focus on factors affecting the performance. The results indicate that land transport infrastructure, economic growth, technological progress, energy prices, industrial structure have significant impacts on the energy and environmental efficiency of China's manufacturing industry. Different from the results at the national level, from a regional perspective, the development of land transport infrastructure in the eastern region plays a negative role in the performance of the manufacturing industry. Finally, some targeted policy recommendations are proposed to improve the policy design of the government.
The article considers the methodological framework for assessing carbon sequestration by aerodrome environs woodland. Aviation emission is considered as the main anthropogenic factor. This article ...proposes woodland indicators for aerodrome environs and airport’s activity indicators. The article presents functional dependence in estimating carbon emission indicators and key indicators carbon sequestration by woodland. The carbon polygons and farms are proposed as airport new infrastructure elements. The solutions overview is presented.
This paper reports the integration of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques for the monitoring of the rail-abutment transition area in ...railway bridges. To this purpose, an experimental campaign was conducted on a rail truss bridge located in Puglia, Southern Italy. On one hand, GPR was used to obtain structural details of the subsurface (thickness of the ballasted layer, position of the sleepers, presence of clay/humidity spots) and to identify potential construction-related issues. Parallel to this, InSAR analyses were mainly addressed to monitor subsidence at the rail-abutment transition area. Outcomes of this investigation outlined presence of subsidence at both the areas of transition and have proven the proposed integrated approach as viable to achieve a more comprehensive assessment of the structural integrity of railway bridges.
•Differential settlements at the bridge-infrastructure transition zone are demanding in terms of maintenance required.•An integrated approach combining ground penetrating radar and satellite interferometry is proposed for displacement monitoring purposes.•A case study on a real railway bridge is presented.
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•Hydrogen transport in pipeline networks is evaluated with regard to its energetic and environmental impact.•Technical specifications for efficient hydrogen transport in pipelines are ...deduced.•The roughness of the line pipes’ inner layer, the load capacity as well as the positioning and design of the compressors are decisive factors.•Advantages and trade-offs for different pipeline network configurations are derived.•Energetically efficient and environmentally friendly hydrogen transport is feasible.
One key strategy to achieve global climate targets is implementing climate-friendly hydrogen as a versatile energy carrier, commodity, and feedstock in the most energy-intensive sectors. Transmission pipeline networks are suited particularly for connecting primary hydrogen producers and consumers over medium distances to meet the future hydrogen demand in regions that strongly rely on energy imports. Nonetheless, the development and operation of large-scale hydrogen pipeline networks may have various yet unknown impacts on the environment. This work investigates the energetic efficiency and the environmental performance of hydrogen transport via pipeline by means of thermodynamic analysis and life cycle assessment. Pertinent technical specifications for large-scale hydrogen pipeline networks were derived based on the current design of state-of-the-art hydrogen pipelines and compressor stations. Since the energy-efficient operation of the pipeline network is essential for a climate-friendly hydrogen transport, thermodynamic analyses were performed to determine the resulting energy demand. Depending on the impact category considered, there are advantages and trade-offs in aiming for an energy-efficient as well as environmentally friendly hydrogen transport solution. The most decisive parameters to reach these aims are the condition of the line pipe’s inner layer, the applied load capacity, as well as the compression ratios, -stages and -positioning. By varying these parameters and considering multiple transport variants, we recommend three measures for the design and operation of new or repurposed hydrogen pipelines: 1) Installing new smooth line pipes or cleaning existing ones to minimize the roughness of the inner surface; 2) Moderately reducing the load capacity, and 3) Shortening the transport intervals by installing intermediate compressor stations. Ultimately, reducing pressure losses within the pipeline system is crucial for ensuring an energetically efficient as well as environmentally friendly hydrogen transmission via large-scale pipeline networks.
The determinants of industrial agglomeration have attracted worldwide attention as a research topic since the 1990s; however, there is still some divergence of opinion on the relationship between ...transport infrastructure and industrial agglomeration. To reconcile these divergent views, we take highways as a typical example of transport infrastructure and undertake an empirical examination based on a sample of 1,660,551 observations of Chinese manufacturing firms covering the period 1998 to 2007. The findings confirm that highway improvement has a positive impact on industrial agglomeration as a whole. We also find that the impact is heterogeneous across industry groups: improvement in the highway network positively affects the agglomeration of non-locally based industries and relationship industries but negatively affects the agglomeration of locally based industries and non-relationship industries.
•This study provides empirical evidence supporting the positive impact of infrastructure improvement on industrial agglomeration as a whole.•This study found that transport infrastructure improvement has heterogenerous impact on different industries positively affects the agglomeration of non-locally based industries and relationship industries but negatively affects the agglomeration of locally based industries and non-relationship industries.•This study discusses the mechanism of agglomeration and dispersion forces and deepens the understanding of ‘new economic geography.’.
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