The stock-service productivity of the European road transport infrastructure

An efficient transport infrastructure not only connects markets and people but also positively affects economic activity, development, and growth. However, little research acknowledges the interaction between the material resources of in-use stocks of transport infrastructure and their service provision. Using the European transport sector as a case study, we quantify the mass of materials composing the transport infrastructure and analyze the interactions between in-use stocks and service provision through the stock-service productivity indicator. We also assess the primary factors driving stock-service productivity changes and explore feasible ways to improve productivity. To do so, we decompose changes in stock-service productivity to the effects of transport intensity, affluence, population density, road density, and material stock efficiency at regional and national levels based on the Log-Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. The results indicate that (1) the productivity of the materials stocked in the European road infrastructure increased from 51 to 57 freight-kilometers/ton-year during the 2010–2019 period; (2) freight transport intensity and affluence were the dominant driving factors in both regional and national scales, while population density, road density and material efficiency played smaller roles. This study contributes to understanding the deeper relation between resource use and its provided services.