Randstad Infrastructure: Its Use and Its Deficiencies

Abstract

The Randstad is a metropolitan area with a high spatial density, both in terms of infrastructure and demand for transport. During the latter part of the 1980s, the demand for transport rose rapidly. The demand was induced by a booming economy in a period of slow expansion of infrastructure. As a result, the bottlenecks in the Randstad’s transport system became a matter of public concern. This concern was heightened by the growing awareness of a rising threat to the position of the Randstad: changes taking place in freight transport were jeopardizing the role of the Randstad as an international distribution center. The transport sector, and especially the international arrival and removal of goods, is an important economic function of the Randstad. International competition in this field made it imperative to upgrade the transport infrastructure in the Randstad. At the same time, however, there was an increasing awareness of the negative environmental externalities caused by transport, especially in a region like the Randstad, which is so densely populated. The demand for transport was growing, particularly in relation to the international freight transport, which is so important to the Randstad. The conflict between that demand and the negative environmental externalities is one of the main issues addressed by research and policy in the Netherlands since the late 1980s.