A Framework for Determining Highway Truck-Freight Benefits and Economic Impacts

Effective truck-freight transportation is critical to both national and local economic competitiveness. Given limited institutional funding, a rational investment prioritization framework is needed for decision makers that supports allocating funding to the most effective projects. However, there is no known nationally-accepted framework for analyzing the full range and full impact of freight related projects. In light of this, this paper proposes a method for not only calculating the direct freight benefits, but also the larger economic impacts of transportation projects. Measurable and critical freight related benefits resulting from transportation investments are developed from a review of the literature, as well as technical input from collaborative meetings with stakeholder groups in Washington State. The identified direct transportation benefits included in the methodology are travel time savings, operating cost savings, and environmental impacts. These are estimated using regional transportation demand models, and additional factors. Economic impacts are estimated using a regional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The total project impacts are estimated combining the outputs of the transportation model and an economic model. A Washington State highway widening project is used as a case study to demonstrate the method. The proposed method is transparent, and can be used to identify total freight specific benefits and generated impacts. This framework will ultimately be used to enhance Washington State’s infrastructure investment prioritization process.

[1]  G. Weisbrod.  Models to predict the economic development impact of transportation projects: historical experience and new applications , 2008 .

[2]  C. Phillip Baumel,et al.  Expanding the Set of Efficiency Gains of a Highway Investment: Conceptual, Methodological and Practical Issues , 1994 .

[3]  Michael J Fischer,et al.  Guidebook for Freight Policy, Planning, and Programming in Small- and Medium-Sized Metropolitan Areas , 2007 .

[4]  T. R. Lakshmanan,et al.  The broader economic consequences of transport infrastructure investments , 2011 .

[5]  M. Ishaq Nadiri,et al.  Contribution of highway capital to output and productivity growth in the US economy and industries , 1998 .

[6]  Joseph Berechman,et al.  Economic Competitiveness: Performance Measures for Transportation , 2008 .

[7]  S. Robinson,et al.  A standard computable general equilibrium (CGE) model in GAMS , 2002 .

[8]  Mark Benson,et al.  Montana Highway Reconfiguration Study , 2005 .

[9]  Joydeep Ghosh,et al.  A General Equilibrium Analysis of Foreign and Domestic Demand Shocks Arising from Mad Cow Disease in the United States , 2006 .

[10]  Alicia Haydock Munnell,et al.  How Does Public Infrastructure Affect Regional Economic Performance , 1990 .

[11]  F R E I G H T T R A N S P O R T A T I O N I M P R O V,et al.  FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION Improvements and the Economy , .

[12]  K. Casavant,et al.  The Economic Impact of Increased Congestion for Freight Dependant Businesses in Washington State , 2013 .

[13]  Lisa Loftus-Otway,et al.  Freight Performance Measures Guide , 2006 .

[14]  Amiy Varma,et al.  Measurement Sources for Freight Performance Measures and Indicators , 2008 .

[15]  D. Holland.  What happens when exports expand: some ideas for closure of regional computable general equilibrium models , 2010 .

[16]  Glen Weisbrod,et al.  Major Corridor Investment-Benefit Analysis System , 2000 .

[17]  Theofanis P. Mamuneas,et al.  CONTRIBUTION OF HIGHWAY CAPITAL TO INDUSTRY AND NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH , 1996 .

[18]  Donald R. Grimes,et al.  Economic Benefits of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s2007–2011 Highway Program , 2007 .