Infrastructure financing via road user charges in light of objectives of regional planning (original publication in German)

The first privately operated motorway projects and heavy truck toll collection schemes on German motorways are components of an intensified integration of road usage and financing. Distance-related user charges could entail higher transport costs for peripheral regions. An empirical analysis for Germany reveals that concerning freight transport peripheral regions might be charged twice compared to more central regions, albeit at rather low shares of transport costs in revenues. Concerning car traffic, the urban fringe of agglomerations would bear the highest transport cost increments. Higher transport costs for peripheral regions and, as a consequence, a more compact spatial division of labour might be at odds with the regional equity objective, but would match other objectives of regional planning.