Anticipating Roadway Expansion and Tolling Impacts: Toolkit for Abstracted Networks
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140, Issue 4
Abstract
Transportation investments are nearing $1,000 per capita annually in the USA, and the Highway Trust Fund has been depleted. Such significant investments and budget-constrained contexts demand careful decision-making and thoughtful cost-benefit analyses. A project evaluation toolkit has been developed for comprehensive assessment of network expansion and pricing projects with only project expenditures, link attributes, and traffic counts as required inputs. The toolkit uses a self-contained travel demand model to predict future and alternative scenario traffic volumes, speeds, crash counts, emissions, and toll revenues while providing project-summary measures, including net present value and benefit-cost ratios. The toolkit seeks to provide early assessment of major project plans along abstracted networks, using hundreds of coded links (rather than thousands), providing results in a matter of minutes (rather than days). This paper describes the model and develops two case-study sites, each with several alternative scenarios. The first examines capacity expansion projects along a highly congested link on the periphery of Austin, Texas, while the second focuses on strategies to reduce traffic in central Austin through tolling and capacity-reduction projects. Toolkit results show which projects merit further consideration by summarizing and monetizing impacts across scenarios.
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Acknowledgments
This paper and the work described herein would not have been possible without funding from the Texas DOT under Research Projects 0-6235, 5-6235, and 0-6487; extensive project support by Brice Nichols, Annette Perrone, Chi Xie, Stephen Boyles, and Gary McGaughey; toolkit review by Chris Williges, Dan Beagan, Ken Cervenka, Duncan Stewart, Ron Hagquist, and others; and the suggestions of several anonymous reviewers.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140 • Issue 4 • December 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 16, 2012
Accepted: Sep 28, 2013
Published online: Feb 13, 2014
Discussion open until: Jul 13, 2014
Published in print: Dec 1, 2014
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