THE TAY ROAD BRIDGE: A CASE STUDY IN COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

THE METHODS OF COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS ARE APPLIED IN THE STUDY OF THE INVESTMENT IN THE TAY ROAD BRIDGE. ONE OF THE CHIEF OBJECTIVES IS TO JUDGE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO THE TRAFFIC ECONOMIST. THE DATA ARE LIMITED TO THOSE WHICH WERE AVAILABLE BEFORE THE OPENING OF THE BRIDGE, AND TRAFFIC PROJECTIONS ARE COMPARED TO THE EXPERIENCED FLOWS TO OBTAIN AN INDIRECT EVALUATION OF THE TECHNIQUES. BECAUSE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF DIRECTLY APPLICABLE DATA, HEAVY RELIANCE IS PUT UPON THEORIES, SUCH AS THE GRAVITY MODEL, AND THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN DIVERSE OTHER STUDIES. THE ANALYSIS ATTEMPTS TO QUANTIFY THE VALUE OF THE SAVINGS IN LEISURE TIME SPENT TRAVELING AND THE VALUE OF THE CHANGES IN CONGESTION ON THE OLD AND NEW ROUTES. A BENEFIT-COST RATIO OF 3.4, A NET PRESENT VALUE OF 18,963,000 POUNDS STERLING AND A RATE OF RETURN OF 25.4 PERCENT ARE CALCULATED. GOOD AGREEMENT IS FOUND BETWEEN PREDICTED AND OBSERVED TRAFFIC FLOWS. THE LAST RESULT MUST HELP REDRESS THE OFTEN PESSIMISTIC VIEW TAKEN OF THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO ECONOMISTS. /BPR/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00223808
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 15, pp 167-183
• Corporate Authors:

  N/A

  ,   United States 
• Authors:
  • Gillhespy, N R
• Publication Date: 1968-6

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Journal of Political Economy
  • Publisher: University of Chicago Press
  • ISSN: 0022-3808

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bridges; Economic conditions; Economic efficiency; Economic impacts; Gravity models; Investments; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Travel time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Economics; Highways; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00201782
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Traffic Systems Reviews & Abstracts
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 25 2003 12:00AM