EFFECTS OF FREEWAY STAGE CONSTRUCTION ON NEARBY LAND USES AND VEHICLE USER COSTS

Because of the huge costs involved, most freeways are commonly constructed in lateral or longitudinal stages. In the case of lateral stage construction, service roads are constructed and opened to traffic before the main lanes. In the case of longitudinal stage construction, the service roads or main lanes are constructed on a freeway section-by-section. Impacts of stage construction include adjacent area land use development, user travel time costs, vehicle running and speed change costs, and accident costs. This paper contains the findings of a study of stage construction impacts on two freeways located in Houston, Texas: (a) one completely stage constructed and (b) the other partly stage constructed. Although authorization was given to purchase right-of-way for both freeways within 2 years of each other, the second freeway to receive authorization was completed at least 6 years before the first. During the "before" construction period, the socioeconomic characteristics of the areas adjacent to the two freeways are shown to be generally similar. During the construction and "after" periods these characteristics are shown to be dissimilar, partly because of differences in the construction schedules of the two freeways. A regression analysis of historical land use changes reveals that certain land uses are sensitive to nonstaged freeway construction. Other variables such as abutting and nonabutting, freeway location differences, capacity changes, and average daily traffic volumes are included in the analysis. A user analysis reveals that staging a freeway costs more in vehicle user costs than benefits gained from delaying construction expenditures.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1985/1046/1046-010.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=EFFECTS+OF+FREEWAY+STAGE+CONSTRUCTION+ON+NEARBY+LAND+USES+AND+VEHICLE+USER+COSTS&author=J.+Buffington&author=M.+Chui&author=J.+Memmott&publication_year=1985
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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. Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Factors of Transportation.
• Authors:
  • Buffington, Jesse L
  • Chui, Margaret K
  • Memmott, Jeffery L
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 62-69
• Monograph Title: Economic development, land use modeling, and transportation requirements
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1046
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Construction management; Costs; Crashes; Economic impacts; Freeways; Land use; Motor vehicles; Operating costs; Road construction; Travel time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Accident costs; Highway user costs; Stage construction
• Old TRIS Terms: Land use effects
• Subject Areas: Construction; Economics; Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00458058
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309039622
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 30 1986 12:00AM