Evaluating the appropriate level of service for Michigan rest areas and welcome centers considering safety and economic factors.

Details

• Creators:
  Gates, Timothy J. ; Savolainen, Peter T. ; Datta, Tapan K. ; Todd, Ryan G. ; Boileau, Stephanie
• Corporate Creators:
  Wayne State University. Transportation Research Group ; Wayne State University. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  Michigan. Dept. of Transportation. Research Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Roadside rest areas
  • Highway facilities for motorized users
  • Highway facilities
  • Financial analysis
  • Financial ratios
  • Operating ratios
  • Benefit cost analysis
  • Costs
  • Cost effectiveness
  • Value of service pricing
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  RC-1570 ; MDOT ORBP project number: OR10-045
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Michigan
• Edition:
  Final report; May 2, 2011-Apr. 30, 2012.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Michigan. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Research and Best Practices
• Abstract:
  Research was performed to determine the value of public rest areas in Michigan, including welcome ; centers. A benefit/cost (B/C) economic analysis procedure was utilized to assess rest areas both ; individually and as a system. The benefits associated with rest areas included: travel diversion cost ; savings, comfort and convenience benefits, increased tourism spending (welcome centers only), and crash ; reductions. The costs associated with rest areas included amortized construction costs, operating costs, ; and routine maintenance costs. The results of the economic analysis showed that nearly all MDOT rest ; areas currently possess B/C ratios that exceed 1.0. The systemwide B/C ratio was estimated at 4.56 with ; individual values for the 81 facilities ranging between 0.78 and 11.66. A majority of the benefits ; originated from a combination of comfort/convenience (i.e., the “value” to users), reduction of targeted ; fatigue-related crashes (estimated at 3.37 crashes per facility per year) and tourism benefits (welcome ; centers only). The facilities with the highest B/C ratios included heavily utilized facilities located on ; major limited-access freeways in the lower peninsula of Michigan. The facilities with the lowest B/C ; ratios were underutilized facilities with high operation and maintenance costs – particularly facilities ; located in northern Michigan and especially those that are closed during winter months. A value index ; for overall prioritization of rest area facilities was computed for each facility considering the B/C ratio ; along with several non-economic functional factors. To provide flexibility for future forecasting and ; planning, a software tool was developed to allow for estimation of the impacts associated with the ; removal of an existing facility or addition of a new facility to the network.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  2010-0298
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/24423/dot_24423_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.48 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:81c03d473138f8c01b0d42f0816cab2a311d92473fbab2fe7c1fc8579d53fae0ca1808416645da0b94e27794603a015297d582d3c1fec45474e5fb4c7cc43457