ECONOMIC ANALYSIS FOR LONG-TERM OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A WATERWAY: THE CASE OF THE MONONGAHELA RIVER

Recent advances in navigation planning emphasize systemwide economic analysis as the appropriate context for estimating benefits of improving a single navigation facility within the system. These planning techniques ensure that the benefits to improving any one navigation project are net of the costs that may be induced by other system projects. For example, the economic benefits of expanding capacity at one lock are estimated net of delay costs at other navigation facilities induced by the additional traffic drawn to the waterway by improvements to the first lock. Despite these advances, navigation planning continues to emphasize identifying and solving problems at single facilities rather than formulating a plan for continued operation, maintenance, and improvement of the entire system. The results of a study incorporating elements of a systemwide planning approach are presented. Specifically, an economic analysis of the long-term operation and maintenance of the Monongahela River navigation system is described. Consisting of nine locks and dams, this system currently has five facilities that will require major rehabilitation or replacement to continue navigation during the next 50 years. The analysis demonstrates the economic justification for improving two of them (Locks and Dams 7 and 8) as the first component of a 50-year system plan that incorporates operation, rehabilitation, and replacement at the other seven facilities.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1222/1222-006.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309049547
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1222, Ports, Waterways, and Inland Water Transportation.Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Prather, Larry J
  • Wise, Herb
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 46-53
• Monograph Title: PORTS, WATERWAYS, AND INLAND WATER TRANSPORTATION
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1222
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Dams; Driver rehabilitation; Economic analysis; Locks (Waterways); Maintenance practices; Systems analysis; Time duration; Waterways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Long term; Operation and maintenance; Rehabilitation; Replacing
• Geographic Terms: Monongahela River
• Old TRIS Terms: Waterways (Transportation)
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Marine Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00494737
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309049547
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 30 1990 12:00AM