Assessment of capacity in infrastructure networks: a multidimensional view

Abstract

SUMMARY In various recent studies on infrastructure policy the idea of the so‐called pentagon model has been used. This model is a strategic tool for evaluating networks on the basis of five critical success factors: •hardware (e.g., efficient technological standardisation)•software (e.g., use of compatible information systems)•orgware (e.g., existence of effective management structures)•finware (e.g., presence of private or public financial institutions)•ecoware (e.g., environment‐friendly or regulated systems). The previous notions may also be helpful in investigating policy alternatives regarding infrastructure capacity. Capacity is not only a technologically determined given stock (measured in terms of hardware), but may also be determined by route guidance systems (software) or smart traffic regulations (orgware), especially from the viewpoint of a network system's operation. In the light of all these remarks, however, this paper pays more thorough attention to the notion of capacity of infrastructure, not only on line segments but also ‐ and particularly ‐ in multi‐modal networks. The main question is: what is a maximum capacity? This is not easy to answer, as for instance a road segment may already have reached its environmentally sustainable maximum, before it has reached its technical maximum. Consequently, the notion of capacity as a maximum use can only be delineated, if the criteria determining a maximum are specified. These remarks clarify the point that capacity has to be viewed as a multi‐dimensional constraint, not only in a traditional technical sense, but more in a broad sense in which policy intervention and human behaviour play a critical role. This leads to the important conclusion that capacity problems are not necessarily and predominantly solved by physical (hardware) expansion, but by a smart combination of different constituents that altogether make up a series of constraints on the use of infrastructure. The previous considerations have been studied for four transport fields in the Netherlands (railways, inland waterways, airlines and road transportation).

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