Functional road categorization: new concepts and challenges related to traffic safety, traffic managment and urban design: reflections based on practices in Belgium confronted with some Eastern European cases

The last decade functional road categorization has drawn new attention in several countries in Europe. In this paper some reflections are made on practice in the Flanders Region in Belgium, confronted with some cases in Latvia and Romania. New challenges for the road system related to spatial planning, traffic safety, transport and traffic management and urban design are inducing research for new concepts for road categorization. These new concepts can be considered as new frames for road planning (and prioritization of investments) as well as for road design

Decision making process on the Antwerp Oosterweel link: lessons learnt

The Oosterweel link (completion of the Antwerp ring road, including a river Scheldt crossing) was planned to be the largest infrastructure project ever built in Belgium. It started as a noiseless process for more than fifteen years, the decision seemed to be taken in 2008: the reference design was approved and a DBFM consortium selected. Then the project became controversial. Action groups dominated the debate and could enforce a public referendum. The project was rejected by the Antwerp citizens. Can the rejection of the project be explained by opening the black box of the planning process? A research of the Antwerp University College Artesis reveals that the decision process of the Oosterweel link can be described within the three streams model (problems–policy alternatives–politics), developed by W. Kingdon. In each stream actors intervene with their own logic (e.g. experts use traffic models, politicians make political deals, and administrations refer to administrative rules...). The process streams were bundled by a policy maker (the governor of the province), creating for a certain period a 'window of opportunity'. But the research confirms that a project idea has its expiry date. From Kingdon's three project survival criteria the weak point of the Oosterweel project is its small problem definition (traffic congestion on the main road system). Major projects should refer to the mobility issue and not only to a traffic problem. Infrastructure planning should not be limited to the physical object to be built, but be embedded in the urban and regional environment (avoiding e.g. white backgrounds in project evaluations and design). Planning processes that only focus on control (of financial and technical issues) and omit interaction (with stakeholders and the general public) have a great risk to fail. This has huge consequences for project management

The uniform distributions puzzle.

This note deepens a problem proposed and discussed by Kadane and O'Hagan (JASA, 1995). Kadane and O'Hagan discuss the existence of a uniform probability on the set of natural numbers (they provide a su_cient and necessary condition for the existence of such a uniform probability). I question the practical relevance of their solution. I show that a purely _nitely additive measure on the set of natural numbers cannot be constructed (its existence needs some form of the Axiom of Choice, the prototype of a nonconstructive axiom).

Ordering infinite utility streams comes at the cost of a non-Ramsey set.

The existence of a Paretian and finitely anonymous ordering in the set of infnite utility streams implies the existence of a non-Ramsey set (a nonconstructive object whose existence requires the axiom of choice). Therefore, each Paretian and finitely anonymous quasi-ordering either is incomplete or does not have an explicit description. Hence, the possibility results of Svensson (1980) and of Bossert, Sprumont, and Suzumura (2006) do require the axiom of choice.Intergenerational justice; Pareto; Multi-period social choice; Axiom of choice; Constructivism;

The uniform distributions puzzle

Ordering infinite utility streams: maximal anonymity

Purely finitely additive measures are non-constructible objects

The existence of a purely finitely additive measure cannot be proved in Zermelo-Frankel set theory if the use of the Axiom of Choice is disallowed.Finitely additive probabilities; Charges; Axiom of choice; Constructivism.

Ordering infinite utility streams comes at the cost of a non-Ramsey set

The existence of a Paretian and finitely anonymous ordering in the set of infinite utility streams implies the existence of a non-Ramsey set (a nonconstructive object whose existence requires the axiom of choice). Therefore, each Paretian and finitely anonymous quasi-ordering either is incomplete or does not have an explicit description. Hence, the possibility results of Svensson (1980) and of Bossert, Sprumont, and Suzumura (2006) do require the axiom of choice.Intergenerational justice; Pareto; Multi-period social choice; Axiom of choice; Constructivism.