Value creation of road infrastructure networks: A structural equation approach

Although road agencies need to provide road infrastructure that is beneficial for road users, little is known about how the activities of the agencies influence the value creation of road infrastructure. From a service-dominant logic perspective, the importance of road maintenance and traffic management activities for the contribution of road infrastructure to the value-creation process of road users is investigated. Road agencies facilitate the value creation of road users by maintaining, upgrading or renewing road infrastructure, the provision of information about the current traffic situation, possible redirection routes in case of traffic jams, and suggestions for appropriate driving behavior. Based on a structured questionnaire, data were collected among motorists in Singapore and analyzed by means of a partial least square modeling approach. The analysis revealed that road cleanliness and road evenness have a significant effect on the experience of road maintenance. Important and significant indicators for the experience of traffic management are the clarity of road signs and the efficiency of traffic redirection. A main conclusion of the research is that for traffic-intensive networks, both road maintenance and traffic management activities are important contributors to the value creation of road infrastructure with a slightly stronger contribution of traffic management activities. Road agencies need to find appropriate maintenance strategies which reduce and coordinate simultaneous maintenance interventions on the network to such an extent that traffic management activities are able to minimize any considerable loss of traffic flow.