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Road Quality and Mean Speed Score
Author:
Marian Moszoronull

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Mauricio Soto
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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2022: Issue 095
Language:
English
Publication Date:
20 May 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400210440.001
ISBN:
9798400210440
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
34
Keywords:
Road Quality; Sustainable Development Goals; Access to Infrastructure; MS score; road infrastructure; road network characteristic; B. geometric mean speed Score; Infrastructure; Income; Africa; Global
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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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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
Volume 2022: Issue 095