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US 59 Harris County/Ft. Bend County: A Case Study Application of a Full-Cost Model for Evaluating Urban Passenger Transportation
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1996-08-01
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[PDF-3.06 MB]
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Edition:Interim
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Abstract:This report evaluated transportation improvement alternatives for the US 59 Southwest Freeway corridor from the full-cost, life-cycle approach perspective. The alternatives involve hypothetical facility improvements as well as vehicle occupancy improvements. Our findings suggest that the current facility will not be able to service the projected peak-hour traffic demand; and after running MODECOST - a computer model based on the full-cost analysis concept- we observed that travelers bore a significant amount of external costs, including congestion costs and air pollution costs. The annual life-cycle cost savings from the reduction of external costs and users/agency costs can more than offset the cost of initial investment for expansion of the current facility. The case study conducted in this report shows that, in many cases, external costs and user/agency costs are more relevant than the initial investment in the facility. Expanding the current facility to add general purpose lanes or HOV lanes to accommodate ride-sharing and special transit service reduces the external costs and user/agency costs, which in tum reduces the system life-cycle costs of the facility. The study also shows that full life-cycle cost analysis is a very effective tool for comparing the costs of transportation investment alternatives and for enhancing qualitative assessments and planning/engineering judgment. The actual value calculated by the full-cost analysis sometimes can be used as an assessment indicator by policy makers and transportation professionals.
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