STRUCTURED APPROACH TO THE EVALUATION AND COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION PLANS

The process of evaluating alternative transportation plans is examined in an attempt to provide an overall structure to the process. A set of questions that can be used to define the evaluation process are given. These questions consider such issues as the scope of the process, its interface with other activities such as model development or plan design, the actual process of evaluation, and the interpretation of evaluation results. Within this framework a multidimensional evaluation process is described. This process involves the careful analysis and distillation of information contained in an evaluation matrix through a series of steps aimed at identifying significant differences among alternatives. Procedures are suggested for eliminating criteria that are not relevant to a decision and for eliminating alternatives that are clearly inferior. Such a process allows for a more careful examination of the Trade-off among alternatives and the implications of the criteria used to measure plan performance. /Author/