Abstract:
This paper investigates two alternative roads running parallel to one another; one being a
double-carriageway national road that was tolled 4 years ago and the other being an inter-city
single-carriageway road. The purpose of the paper is to test the application of the World Bank-developed
Road Economic Decision (RED) model for assessing the economic impact of traffic
diversion between two existing alternative roads. In order to do so, the RED model is first used to
conduct a cost–benefit analysis of each road in isolation. Thereafter, the model is used to do a
scenario analysis followed by a sensitivity analysis. The results show that the RED model is a useful
tool for evaluating the impact on society of diverted traffic between alternative roads elsewhere in
South Africa.
