In pursuit of active economic development, the Korean government has continuously insisted on implementing measures to support and invest on the road and automobile-based transportation system. If this system continues, the environmental damage is expected to become much more serious in the near future. However, despite these apprehensions, a systematic approach has not been introduced in Korea for comparing the environmental nature of the railways and road transport, to be reflected in transportation policy initiatives. Therefore, systematic analysis and evaluation of the social cost for different means of transportation became necessary for effective and environmentally friendly implementation of the measures and policies.
This study analyzed 6 categories of the transportation external effects, which include air pollution, greenhouse gas, noise pollution, land use, traffic accidents, and congestion. Then the economic, social and environmental impacts on these categories were evaluated. The point of assessment was based on the years 2000 and 2010, under the assumption that the current transportation policies will be maintained without any significant changes. The cost for traffic accidents and congestion in the year 2000 was based on the data from the Korea Transport Institute(KOTI).
According to the study, the social cost from the surface transportation sector in the year 2000 was estimated around 49 trillion won; out of this amount, the estimated cost for air pollution was 11.6 trillion(23%), congestion 11.3 trillion(23%), land use 9.7 trillion (20%), traffi