A better road to the future for efficiency – improving performance

Report by IRF Global & McKinsey identifies pathways to efficiency gain A report released jointly by the International Road Federation and McKinsey & Company will help transport decision-makers and international financial institutions identify and leverage efficiency gains in road project design and delivery. This will potentially save billions of dollars each year. The report, titled “A better road to the future,” illustrates the complexity of the challenge in designing and delivering road infrastructu
September 10, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Report by the Washington-based 8738 IRF Global & McKinsey identifies pathways to efficiency gain


A report released jointly by the International Road Federation and 7505 McKinsey & Company will help transport decision-makers and international financial institutions identify and leverage efficiency gains in road project design and delivery. This will potentially save billions of dollars each year.

The report, titled “A better road to the future,” illustrates the complexity of the challenge in designing and delivering road infrastructure. The diagnostic approach to assess the performance of road infrastructure delivery systems outlined in this report illustrates that each country could build an improvement journey based on its individual starting point.

Research shows that road-sector investment needs to be approximately US$900 billion/year to keep pace with projected growth - currently, it falls short by $180 billion/year. Additionally, experience shows that to improve a country’s road network significantly and sustainably, the whole delivery system must be taken into consideration. It is not enough simply to increase funding.

A study of more than 20 road infrastructure delivery systems across the world enabled the project partners to identify a number of root causes and potential improvements. Many road infrastructure tenders receive too few bids and there are often significant cost variations. There is a lack of value assurance processes and there are significant challenges to scaling innovation.

The report focuses on what can be done to enhance the whole delivery system, ensuring that the spend results in the best possible road network – defined as the road network that best fulfills the transportation needs of the economy.

Commenting on the report, IRF president & CEO C Patrick Sankey noted “many authoritative studies have underscored the growing gap between investment needs on the one hand, and the combined spending on road construction and upkeep on the other. Less attention has been paid to the policies and mechanisms required to stretch available funds through better project selection, efficient procurement strategies, and effective delivery practices. Thanks to this collaboration between the IRF and McKinsey, transportation decision-makers now have a new comparative study on the cost-effectiveness of productivity-enhancing practices.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road user charging comes to the UK?
    December 14, 2017
    A new funding scheme for England’s proposed Major Road Network was greeted with enthusiasm by local authorities which partly pay for road upkeep. But this enthusiasm may be premature, explains Alan Pauling*
    Read More
  • Mexico introduces new professional roles to address road safety
    June 24, 2013
    *Ana Maria de la Parra introduces the new external road operation supervisors and fatal accident appraisers who could make a vital contribution to improving the efficiency and safety of highways in middle-income countries like Mexico. Sometimes it is difficult to pin down the perception of a country like Mexico in the popular international mindset. Visitors travelling to Mexico City for the first time are often amazed by its size. They are also frequently taken aback by how unexpectedly advanced it is in te
    Read More
  • Road trains project saves space as well as fuel
    February 23, 2012
    A high-tech European project involving cars could reduce fuel consumption by up to one-fifth as Patrick Smith reports. A new EU project, Sartre, is aimed at developing and testing technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways.
    Read More
  • The drive for US road funding: will corporate America get a seat?
    September 13, 2017
    Trumponomics aims to use public money for pump-priming an even greater amount of cash from the private sector to improve America’s crumbling roads. But is political will matching corporate America’s enthusiasm for more private investment, asks David Arminas If there were ever a test case for comparing public-private partnerships and design-build contracts, the recently completed Ohio River Bridges Project is it (see previous article).
    Read More

Highlighted Content