Improving the Understanding of Transportation Economic Development Impacts

Economic development refers to progress toward a community’s economic goals such as increased employment, income, productivity, property values, and tax revenues. This paper examines various ways that transportation policy and planning decisions affect economic development, methods for evaluating these impacts, and ways to maximize economic development benefits in transport decisions. Some of these impacts are often overlooked in conventional analysis. This paper emphasizes the importance of using accessibility-based analysis when evaluating transportation economic impacts.