A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF RURAL ROAD COSTS

A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IS APPLIED TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF SIZE OF HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT ON PER-MILE COSTS. IN CONTRAST TO THE SYNTHETIC APPROACH, WHERE BUDGETS ARE DETERMINED FOR HYPOTHETICAL ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS, OR TO THE COMPARATIVE APPROACH, WHERE BUDGETS OF ONE UNIT ARE COMPARED BEFORE AND AFTER SIZE INCREASE, THE STATISTICAL METHOD ISOLATES THE EFFECT OF ONE VARIABLE, BASED ON EXISTING DATA AND THE USE OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION TECHNIQUE. THE PATTERN OF DECREASING PER-MILE COSTS WITH INCREASING MILEAGES ADMINISTERED BY THE UNIT IS EVIDENT FOR EACH OF NINE ILLINOIS HIGHWAY DISTRICTS (EXCEPT COOK COUNTY) IN 1953.