Infrastructure assessment

Background

Agencies tend to select projects that, once constructed, do not generate ridership levels that warrant their construction. In short, many project projects are overbuilt and a less costly alternative would satisfy the project need.

A variety of political, financial, and accounting incentives support the construction of projects whose capacities far exceed demand, including:

• Overestimated ridership from forecast modeling inputs that do not correspond with actual travel behavior
• Unanticipated construction costs
• Preference for large, splashy projects
• No incentive to manage project costs because others are footing the bill

Strategies

Improve modeling

• Adjust forecast year

Improve cost estimation

• Conduct extensive engineering studies before deciding on alternative
• Reach out to stakeholders
• Use historical cost estimates as comparison
• Consistently measure across projects

Contain project cost

• Clearly define scope and schedule
• Increase cost estimate transparency