ESTIMATED IMPACT OF WIDENING U.S. HIGHWAY 80 (MARSHALL AVENUE) IN LONGVIEW, TEXAS

The effects during and after construction of a highway widened to install a continuous two-way left-turn lane with curbs and gutters are documented. A 10.89-km (6.7-mi) section of U.S. Highway 80, known as Marshall Avenue, in Longview, Texas, was widened in this manner between 1989 and 1991. Before the addition of the continuous left-turn lane, five intersections were widened. A study of the effects of the latter construction was completed in 1987, and the data collected at that time serve as the "before construction" data for the present study. Data were also collected during and after construction of the two-way continuous left-turn lane. The data collected included information on abutting businesses' assessments of the impact of construction on their businesses, estimates of parking availability and use, and the impacts of the construction expenditures on the local area or city. Most businesses' number of usable parking spaces, customers per day, full-time and part-time employees as well as gross sales and net profits were unaffected, either during or after construction. Over half of the 1987 abutting businesses experienced no change in their number of parking spaces. Longview land and property values peaked in 1986 and fell until Marshall Avenue construction started. Subsequent increases in values were not necessarily related to the construction. Construction expenditures in Texas totaled $8.1 million. The Texas input-output model estimates the impacts of these expenditures to be $29.9 million in additional output and 514 jobs for the statewide economy.