Road Investment to Foster Local Economic Development

This study examines the relationship between road investments and local economic development. More specifically, it incorporates the best available theory on this relationship into a workable approach for those faced with making road investment decisions. To provide a sense of the types of projects state-level highway administrators must evaluate and to apply the approach developed, a specific state program is used as a case study. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 presents a discussion of the economic development process. In Chapter 3 highway investment is related to local and regional economic development. Chapter 4 provides a review of previous research on the connection between highway investment and economic growth and development, and reports the results of a survey conducted of all 50 state departments of transportation. Also discussed in Chapter 4 are the features of special economic development highway programs found in 24 states. Their ability to promote efficient investments is examined. Chapter 5 examines Iowa's RISE (Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy) program. The details of the program are explained and its funding experience to date is summarized. The 18 projects approved more than three years prior to this evaluation are then examined. Performance measures used by the Iowa DOT -- cost per job assisted and capital investment ratio -- are applied to compare projected and reported results. These two performance measures are critiqued as bases for making investment decisions. In the final chapter, Chapter 6, the framework presented in Chapters 2 and 3 are applied to assess the economic development impacts of the 18 case study RISE projects. A series of questions or screens are used in the evaluation of each RISE project. These screens constitute a sequential series of considerations for a state evaluating a proposed road improvement if the objective is local economic development.

[1]  Teresa García-Milá,et al.  The contribution of publicly provided inputs to states' economies☆ , 1992 .

[2]  Ronald Briggs,et al.  INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM AND DEVELOPMENT IN NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS , 1981 .

[3]  S. M. Miller,et al.  Dollars and Dreams: The Changing American Income Distribution. , 1987 .

[4]  F. Saccomanno.  Transport policy analysis through site value transfer , 1979 .

[5]  John M. Munro.  PLANNING THE APPALACHIAN DEVELOPMENT HIGHWAY SYSTEM: SOME CRITICAL QUESTIONS , 1969 .

[6]  Chong K. Liew,et al.  MEASURING THE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT OF A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: A SIMPLIFIED APPROACH* , 1985 .

[7]  J. Huddleston,et al.  REGIONAL AND LOCAL ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS , 1990 .

[8]  Yorgos J. Stephanedes,et al.  DYNAMIC HIGHWAY IMPACTS ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT , 1987 .

[9]  John P. Blair,et al.  Major Factors in Industrial Location: A Review , 1987 .

[10]  Chong K. Liew,et al.  Measuring the development impact of a proposed transportation system , 1984 .

[11]  H. Mahmassani,et al.  TRANSPORTATION ISSUES RELATED TO HIGH TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN MEDIUM-SIZE URBAN AREAS , 1985 .

[12]  David Alan Aschauer,et al.  Rx for productivity: build infrastructure , 1988 .

[13]  A Kazakov,et al.  MEASURING ECONOMIC STIMULATION FROM CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORTATION , 1988 .

[14]  Henry E. Moon.  Interstate Highway Interchanges Reshape Rural Communities. , 1987 .

[15]  Roger W. Schmenner,et al.  Making Business Location Decisions , 1982 .

[16]  R. R. Sell,et al.  The Impact of Controlled Access Highways on Population Growth in Pennsylvania Nonmetropolitan Communities, 1940-1970. , 1975 .

[17]  S. Cole,et al.  Applied Transport Economics , 1987 .

[18]  Frank R Wilson,et al.  HIGHWAY INVESTMENT AS A REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY TOOL , 1985 .

[19]  Mahlon R. Straszheim.  Researching the Role of Transportation in Regional Development , 1972 .

[20]  R. Briggs,et al.  THE IMPACT OF INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM ON NON METROPOLITAN GROWTH , 1980 .

[21]  Daniel T. Lichter,et al.  Demographic Response to Transportation Innovation: The Case of the Interstate Highway , 1980 .

[22]  David Alan Aschauer,et al.  IS PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PRODUCTIVE , 1989 .

[23]  B. Harrison,et al.  The Political Economy of States' Job-Creation Business Incentives , 1978 .

[24]  運輸調査局.  運輸と經濟 = Transportation & economics , 1948 .

[25]  Robert Lowell Carstens.  ECONOMIC APPRAISAL OF TRANSPORT PROJECTS: A Manual With Case Studies by Hans A. Adler , 1972 .