Infrastructure assessment

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Revision as of 22:55, 13 February 2012 by Sbergstein (talk | contribs)
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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


Improve cost estimation


Contain project cost