Case Studies of the Economic Impact of Highway Bypasses in Kansas
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Case Studies of the Economic Impact of Highway Bypasses in Kansas

Filetype[PDF-2.71 MB]


English
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Details:

  • Creators:
  • Corporate Creators:
    Kansas State University. Dept. of Economics
  • Corporate Contributors:
    Kansas. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Materials and Research. Research Unit
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
    K-TRAN: KSU-02-1
  • Resource Type:
    Tech Report
  • Geographical Coverage:
    Kansas
  • Edition:
    Final Report: August 2001-October 2003
  • Corporate Publisher:
  • Abstract:
    The construction of highway bypasses in Kansas has resulted in important economic benefits. Perhaps the most significant benefit is the travel time savings of through motorists who avoid the slower speeds, stops and congestion associated with driving through downtowns. Despite the benefits of highway bypasses, they remain controversial. Some local business owners in the town being bypassed may be concerned that the reduction of traffic passing through the town will adversely affect their sales. In addition, when a bypass or a new highway alignment is constructed, the old alignment is refurbished (if needed) by the state and then given back to the local unit of government (city and/or county) which contains the old route. The added expenditure to the local government of an additional road may result in a reduction of maintenance on other city/county roads. Case studies of the economic impacts of highway bypasses on individual towns are needed since the effects of bypasses may vary a great deal from place to place. The objectives of this report were for a sample of small Kansas towns that have highway bypasses, (1) assess the impact of the bypass on the towns’ total employment, (2) measure the impact on retail sales of the towns’ travel-related businesses, (3) measure the impact on employment of the towns’ travel-related businesses, (4) measure the impact on labor cost per employee of the towns’ travel-related businesses, and for the Kansas counties that contain the sample of small Kansas towns that have bypasses, (5) assess the incremental impact on the county’s road maintenance expenditures of assuming maintenance responsibility for the previous road alignment. The principal conclusions of the study are as follows: (1) the statistical results are consistent with the conclusion that the bypasses did not have a statistically significant effect on total employment in the bypass towns, (2) a majority of the owners and the managers of the travel-related business firms interviewed felt that the bypass had a major effect on retail sales of their firm in the 1999 to 2001 period. However, they felt it did not have any effect on their employment during the same time period. (3) There was substantial variation in the opinions and perceptions of the respondents concerning the impact of the bypass on retail sales and employment of the four industry groups in the sample. (4) Total road and bridge maintenance expenditures of the seven counties increased an average of 2.3 percent per year (not inflation adjusted) over the five year period. To finance road and bridge maintenance, all seven counties employed the property tax.
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Funding:
    C1315
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