ROLE OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN PLAN SELECTION

The planning and processing requirements for major transportation projects have undergone significant changes in the past two decades. The need to consider environmental, social, and land-use impact in addition to economic issues and the necessity of incorporating citizen inputs has resulted in the development of new methodologies capable of accomodating these concerns. There is still a need for sound economic analysis of alternatives to assist in defining the consequences of alternative plans. The evolution of economic analysis in the planning process is reviewed, followed by a description of available economic analysis techniques and an examination of the function of economic analysis in the plan selection process. Proper selection and application of economic analysis techniques can provide valuable information to assist the decision maker to select among alternative transportation investment alternatives.