Developing a framework for the impact evaluation of different types of transportation projects
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The relationship between transportation infrastructure investment and economic growth has become an issue of increasing interest for local, regional and national government agencies, where this relationship is generally considered to be a positive one. Investments in transportation are deemed to have high returns, take advantage of underutilized resources, and support the day-to-day operations of businesses as well as the working population through improved access, allowing increased labor force participation. While these assertions concerning transportation investment are encouraging, they are generic in nature. There is an apparent lack of detail about the spatial scales and type of transportation projects that can or do aid in the improvement of the economy. Using meta-analysis (MA), a framework is developed to effectively select and measure performance metrics for specific types of transportation projects and evaluate their impact on the system features of the larger transportation systems. Traditional frameworks for analyzing these projects, such as, cost-benefit analysis (CBA), are useful but are limited in nature when exploring non-economic values. This research supports the decision-making process for selecting future transportation projects using a robust set of performance measures and historic data for specific project types. It was found that while transportation infrastructure investment generally results in economic growth, there are significant differences in impact based on spatial scale and project type.