Recent years have brought a great deal of expansion to the economic systems of
developing countries. Although they serve as vital link of economic activities, the transportation
network of these countries have not grown proportionally. Since Transportation investments is a
a substantial portion of the national budget, a good knowledge of each mode's various characteristics
is essential, when planning for various combination of transport modes.
This paper discusses the three transport modes which are most important in developing
countries: highway, railway, and pipeline.
The relative costs of construction, maintenance, administration, operation, etc. are
estimated for the three modes. Type and frequency of traffic are also compared for different
type of highways. An addition to such quantifiable characteristics, the highway, railway, and
pipeline have also been evaluated with respect to flexibility, carrying capacity of both load and
passengers, as well as other relevant environmental considerations.
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