Measuring the Economic Impact of High-Speed Rail Construction for California and the Central Valley Region

The nation’s first high-speed rail project is under construction in California’s Central Valley as of the date of this report. This research analyzes the immediate economic impacts, focused on employment and spending generated by California High-Speed Rail (HSR) Construction Package 1 (CP1) in the Central Valley and the rest of California. The authors use a two-pronged approach that combines original economic analysis and modeling with case study vignettes that explore the economic impacts through the lens of a sample of businesses and individuals directly impacted by this phase of HSR development. Overall, the economic analysis suggests that CP1-related spending (forecasted through to 2019) will lead to more than 31,500 additional jobs (both part-time and full-time) by the year 2029. Growth is concentrated in Fresno County, with the number of additional jobs estimated at more than 15,500. The analysis considers job growth across a number of alternative scenarios, converting the raw jobs estimates to full-time equivalent job-years. Under the most conservative HSR spending scenario considered, over the 15-year period evaluated, more than 25,000 full-time equivalent job-years are created. This amount to 14,900 jobs per billion (real) dollars of spending, or a cost of approximately $67,200 per job-year.

• Record URL:
  • http://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1627_Nixon-Measuring-Economic-Impact-California-High-Speed-Rail.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://merritt.cdlib.org/d/ark%253A%252F13030%252Fm5sv2mc8/1/producer%252F1627_Nixon-Measuring-Economic-Impact-California-High-Speed-Rail.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  Mineta Transportation Institute

  San Jose State University Research Center
  210 N. 4th Street, 4th Floor
  San Jose, CA  United States  95112

  California High-Speed Rail Authority

  925 L Street, Suite 1245
  Sacramento, California  United States  95814

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Nixon, Hilary
  • 0000-0001-5378-3473
  • Holian, Matthew
  • Niles, John
  • Pogodzinski, J M
• Publication Date: 2018-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Bibliography; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 83p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Economic analysis; Economic forecasting; Economic impacts; Employment; High speed rail; Railroad construction; Regional development; Regional economics; Regional planning
• Identifier Terms: California High Speed Rail Authority
• Geographic Terms: Central Valley (California); Fresno County (California)
• Subject Areas: Construction; Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01679691
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-08, CA-MTI-1627
• Contract Numbers: HSR15-160
• Files: BTRIS, UTC, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 29 2018 4:40PM