Transportation Decision Making

Transportation Decision Making
Author: Kumares C. Sinha
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 576
Release: 2011-09-09
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1118169662

This pioneering text provides a holistic approach to decisionmaking in transportation project development and programming, whichcan help transportation professionals to optimize their investmentchoices. The authors present a proven set of methodologies forevaluating transportation projects that ensures that all costs andimpacts are taken into consideration. The text's logical organization gets readers started with asolid foundation in basic principles and then progressively buildson that foundation. Topics covered include: Developing performance measures for evaluation, estimatingtravel demand, and costing transportation projects Performing an economic efficiency evaluation that accounts forsuch factors as travel time, safety, and vehicle operatingcosts Evaluating a project's impact on economic development and landuse as well as its impact on society and culture Assessing a project's environmental impact, including airquality, noise, ecology, water resources, and aesthetics Evaluating alternative projects on the basis of multipleperformance criteria Programming transportation investments so that resources can beoptimally allocated to meet facility-specific and system-widegoals Each chapter begins with basic definitions and concepts followedby a methodology for impact assessment. Relevant legislation isdiscussed and available software for performing evaluations ispresented. At the end of each chapter, readers are providedresources for detailed investigation of particular topics. Theseinclude Internet sites and publications of international anddomestic agencies and research institutions. The authors alsoprovide a companion Web site that offers updates, data foranalysis, and case histories of project evaluation and decisionmaking. Given that billions of dollars are spent each year ontransportation systems in the United States alone, and that thereis a need for thorough and rational evaluation and decision makingfor cost-effective system preservation and improvement, this textshould be on the desks of all transportation planners, engineers,and educators. With exercises in every chapter, this text is anideal coursebook for the subject of transportation systems analysisand evaluation.

Principles of Transport Economics

Principles of Transport Economics
Author: Emile Quinet
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This book is designed to provide an analytical approach to transport economics with reference to the development of both national and EU transport policy.

The Evaluation of Transportation Investment Projects

The Evaluation of Transportation Investment Projects
Author: Joseph Berechman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 514
Release: 2010-05-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135214077

Throughout the world, the use of some kind of a formal transportation project evaluation procedure is a requirement. Yet, by and large, these are partial; in fact, much weight is often placed on the initial -pre-engineering -phases of the planning process, when vital information, such as accurate costs and demand projections, is largely missing. Moreover, many of these procedures neglect to consider key issues such as project’s risks, capital costs financing, latent demand, market imperfections, labor force availability and various incompatibilities between trip rates, travel times and activity location. As a result, projects, which are judged as viable under such deficient evaluation schemes, may have had a significantly different projection of capital costs and demand should a well-founded, thorough, and efficient evaluation process be used. Against this background, this book’s main objective is to construct a comprehensive and methodical economic, planning and decision-making framework for the evaluation of proposed transportation infrastructure investment projects. Such a framework is founded on four key principles. It is based on well-established economic, transportation and policy-analysis theoretical principles; it is comprehensive enough to encompass all relevant evaluation issues; it is applicable to a wide range of transportation investment projects; and it is amenable to empirical application including a sensitivity analysis and alternative scenarios regarding urban, regional and national developments.

Engineering Economics and Finance for Transportation Infrastructure

Engineering Economics and Finance for Transportation Infrastructure
Author: Elena S. Prassas
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2013-06-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 364238580X

This textbook provides a fundamental overview of the application of engineering economic principles to transportation infrastructure investments. Basic theory is presented and illustrated with examples specific to the transportation field. It also reviews the history of transportation finance, as well as current methods for funding transportation investments in the U.S. Future problems and potential solutions are also discussed and illustrated.

Road Pricing: Theory, Empirical Assessment and Policy

Road Pricing: Theory, Empirical Assessment and Policy
Author: Börje Johansson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 940110980X

Road pricing (tolls, etc.) as a means of generating revenue for infrastructure investment has become a major policy option in both Europe and North America. It can also be used as a policy in the management of traffic demand and flow, environmental objectives, and optimal resource allocation as regards the size of investments. Road pricing is assumed to be able to solve many problems simultaneously -- congestion control, pollution reduction, and investment financing. This volume assembles and assesses theoretical knowledge, empirical results and experiences of actual road pricing. In addition, the impact of new information technology on future policy formulation is considered.

Road Work

Road Work
Author: Kenneth A. Small
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780815721130

America's interstate highway system is deteriorating, and traffic congestion in most urban centers is worsening. Because of the many strong and conflicting interests, policy discussions about the road system are also in gridlock. The only consensus that seems to have emerged is that public spending must be increased. Improving our highway system and its financing will not be easy. Road Work proposes a comprehensive highway pricing and investment policy to meet the goals of efficiency, equity, and financial stability. In this study, Kenneth A. Small, Clifford Winston, and Carol A. Evans base their policy on two economic principles: efficient pricing to regulate demand for highway services and efficient investment to minimize the total public and private costs of providing them. Policy recommendations include a set of pavement-wear taxes for heavy trucks, a set of congestion taxes for all vehicles, and a program of optimal investments in road durability. Their proposals should be especially attractive to policymakers because they can be implemented with current technology, offer little threat to the major interest group, and in the long run will reduce the strain on state and local governments' highway budgets.