Published in July 2017, the Department for Transport’s ‘Exploring the Economic Benefits of Strategic Roads’ provides a critical review of the theoretical literature on the channels through which road investments can lead to improved economic performance and the empirical research on the nature and magnitude of impacts.

The purpose of the Report is to provide policy makers with a clear understanding of the evidence relating to each of those channels; and to describe the conditions under which gains in economic performance through those channels are more likely to be observed. The Report presents lessons learned from ten case studies of road investments in the UK and overseas, including the North.