Transportation Infrastructure and Policies

Levinson (1998) provides an excellent discussion of the history of road construction and pricing. In the late 1700s, turnpikes were built using public funds in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania but were then turned over to private companies that collected tolls. Over time. 

Should transportation be direct or through an intermediate site  

Should the intermediate site stock product or only serve as a cross-docking location  

Should each delivery route supply a single destination or multiple destinations (milk run, discussed later)  

Based on the answers to these questions, the supply chain ends up with a variety of transportation networks. We discuss these options and their strengths and weaknesses in the context of a buyer with multiple locations sourcing from several suppliers. 

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Another important issue is that engineering activities can in some circumstances have deleterious effects on health, mostly as unintended consequences of otherwise desirable activities. Hence, a further form of entanglement of the activities of engineers and healthcare professionals is the increased awareness in the medical profession of the effects of engineering policy and activities on health. One example of such awareness will be analysed, the effects of transport infrastructure and policy on health. This suggests that transport policy should prioritise ability to access and physically active transport rather than the ability to travel, hence effectively promoting both the welfare and agency of beneficiaries. 

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