The road infrastructure account is an important foundation for transport policy decisions. On behalf of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), INFRAS compiled data on the methodology used and changes to the account into a methodology report.
The economic efficiency of various modes of transport is a key topic in transport policy. The road infrastructure account details the costs, expenditure and revenue associated with motorised road transport for public authorities. This account is an integral part of the statistics on costs and funding of transport (CFT).
The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) tasked INFRAS with compiling a report on the methodology used to calculate the road infrastructure account. The subsequent methodology report contains fundamental information on the road infrastructure account and helps explain the results the FSO publishes each year.
Expenditure and costs for road infrastructure
The expenditure account identifies what amount of the operational and capital expenditure is attributable to motorised road transport. The imputation ratios per road type allocate expenditure to motorised traffic according to the principle of functionality. The principle of functionality differentiates roads according to their use in order to allocate costs fairly between motorised and non-motorised transport. In contrast to the expenditure account, the capital account considers the capital costs of investments instead of the investment expenditure.
Comparison of chargeable revenue and expenditure/costs
The road infrastructure account incorporates specific taxes and levies for the construction, maintenance and operation of road infrastructure. Transport users have to pay these taxes and levies, which are specifically imposed on motorised transport. The expenditure and cost coverage ratio can be calculated using the balance of revenue and expenditure/costs. The category account distributes the chargeable expenditure and costs across individual vehicle categories.
What the results of the road infrastructure account mean
The road infrastructure account shows whether the revenue from road users covers the annual public expenditure on roads (expenditure coverage ratio) and whether the revenue also covers the decline in value of the infrastructure due to road users (cost coverage ratio). The category account provides a differentiated representation by vehicle category as well as by passenger, goods and heavy goods transport. This is how the category account contributes to true-cost pricing for transport.
More information
- Final report (German)
- Federal Statistical Office website:
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