Road Quality and Mean Speed Score /

We introduce a novel measure of cross-country road quality based on the travel mean speed between large cities from Google Maps. This measure is useful to assess road infrastructure and access gaps. Our Mean Speed (MS) score is easier to estimate and update than traditional gauges of road network qu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Moszoro, Marian
Other Authors: Soto, Mauricio
Format: Journal
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2022.
Series:IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2022/095
Subjects:
Online Access:Full text available on IMF
Full text available on IMF
Full text available on IMF
Description
Summary:We introduce a novel measure of cross-country road quality based on the travel mean speed between large cities from Google Maps. This measure is useful to assess road infrastructure and access gaps. Our Mean Speed (MS) score is easier to estimate and update than traditional gauges of road network quality which rely on official reports, surveys (i.e., World Economic Forum's Quality of Roads Perception survey), or satellite imaging (i.e., World Bank's Rural Access Index). In a sample of over 160 countries, we find that MS scores range between 38 km/h (23.6 mph) and 107 km/h (66.5 mph). We show that the MS score is a strong proxy for road quality and access.
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Physical Description:1 online resource (34 pages)
Format:Mode of access: Internet
ISSN:1018-5941
Access:Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students