Community Severance: Where Is It Found and at What Cost?

Community severance occurs when transport infrastructure or motorised traffic divides space and people. Despite the growing awareness of its effects on the wellbeing of local communities, the problem is not usually assessed quantitatively or assigned a monetary value. This paper reviews existing practice and research on quantitative methods dealing with community severance. The problem is first decomposed into a series of questions, which are then used as a base to review the methods found in governmental guidance documents, technical reports, and academic studies. The paper ends with recommendations for the integration of severance issues into transport planning.