DO ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS INCREASE CONSTRUCTION COSTS FOR FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS? A STATISTICAL EXPERIMENT

This paper uses Federal Aid Highway program information for 1990 to 1994 to define a natural experiment that evaluates whether compliance with federal environmental regulations increases construction costs. This is accomplished by considering whether indirect measures of the environmental resources in each state affect construction expenditures for federal aid highways. The test assumes that both positive and negative measures of environmental resources and amenities, such as counts of endangered species and historic sites, and the number of locations with Superfund sites, will serve as indirect indicators of the likelihood that environmental regulations could impact federally supported highway construction. Statistical analyses suggest that the expenditures for federal aid highway construction and repair were influenced by these factors and by the regulatory activities likely to be associated with environmental mandates. Similar models applied to construction expenditures for state roads, which are not subject to the full set of federal regulations, did not find the proxy measures for the potential impact of these environmental regulations as positive influences on construction costs.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1501495
• 
• Record URL:
  http://www.bts.gov/publications/jts/v2n1/
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/4710
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/37387952
• Corporate Authors:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Smith, V K
  • von Haefen, R H
  • Zhu, W D
• Publication Date: 1999-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 45-60
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transportation and Statistics
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Research and Innovative Technology Administration
  • ISSN: 1094-8848
  • Serial URL: http://www.bts.gov/publications/journal_of_transportation_and_statistics/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction; Cost estimating; Environmental protection; Federal aid highways; Regulatory constraints; State highways; Statistical analysis
• Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00766486
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-042 921
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 28 1999 12:00AM