This report reviews the approaches used to evaluate social impacts associated with the development and use of roads, at the project level.

After an analysis of the limits of traditional project assessments, the report reflects the diversity of the perception of social impacts in different countries. The core of the report is a critical presentation of the approaches used in social impact assessment: overview of systematic approaches for the ex-ante evaluations; practices of international financial institutions; contributions from ex-post evaluation.

The report highlights the added value of ex-post evaluations still little practiced.

In the appendix, overviews are presented of advanced approaches of ex-ante evaluation of the social impact of road projects implemented in Austria, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. The second appendix presents case studies of ex-post evaluation of road infrastructure projects in France, Morocco, Papua New Guinea and the United Kingdom.