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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Development of the assessment and follow-up of large transport projects

Liikennehankkeiden arvioinnin ja seurannan kehittaminen

The report focuses on the improvement of the guidelines of the assessment and follow-up of large transport infrastructure projects that are proposed to be, or have been, specifically listed in the State budget. The current guidelines have been published and confirmed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 1994 and 2000. In addition, the Ministry has endorsed the unit costs of accidents, pollutants, etc. to be used in the project appraisal. The Finnish Road, Rail and Maritime administrations have complementary and more detailed internal instructions for the assessment of road, rail and maritime projects. All phases of the project life cycle are in the focus of the report. The recommendations made, however, have been limited to most pressing development needs. The unit costs and technical standards of the cost-benefit calculation, for example, have not been dealt with. The recommendations for the development of the guidelines of project assessment are as follows: 1. The Ministry of Transport and Communications should prepare a handbook that assembles and clarifies the existing guidelines of project assessment that are now scattered amongst several publications and other sources. 2. The guidelines on which impacts should be taken into account in the basic calculation and which impacts should be included in the sensitivity analysis should be clarified. The definition of the base alternative should be better instructed, too. 3. The documentation of a cost-benefit calculation should be comprehensive and transparent enough to enable an outsider to audit and update the calculation. 4. The analysis of the impacts of the projects from the viewpoint of the objectives of transport policy should be given a higher importance. The methodology of impact analysis should be developed to better enable the assessment of the significance of individual impacts. The recommendations for the development of the follow-up of projects are as follows: 1. The Road, Rail and Maritime Administrations should develop the planning processes and the follow-up of large projects during the planning to ensure the projects include the most feasible measures and that cost estimates are as firm as possible. 2. The Road, Rail and Maritime Administrations should produce follow-up reports of large projects. Reports should cover the planning phase and the actual construction phase, and be updated after each notable change. A concluding report should be prepared soon after the new or improved transport facility has been opened for use, to evaluate the actual costs and schedule of the project compared with the original plans, and to analyse the course of the construction in general. Examples of the different follow-up documents are included in this report. After several years of the completion of the project, it should be included in a follow-up report to analyse the actual impacts. This so-called after-follow-up report can cover several projects that have been completed during the last 5-10 years. After-follow-up serves the purpose of improving the planning process and project assessment. This report is available at http://www.mintc.fi

Language

  • Finnish

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01015221
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: TRL
  • ISBN: 951-723-457-0
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Jan 12 2006 8:52AM