PLANNING FOR MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES. AN APPROACH TO THE EVALUATION OF TRANSPORTATION PLANS

This book examines the efficacy of some established techniques of plan evaluation in the public sector, namely the application of cost-benefit analysis to water resource planning, highway planning, and urban development planning. It is demonstrated that these techniques do not fully satisfy the requirements of rational planning. An alternative technique of plan evaluation, known as the goals-achievement matrix, is postulated and is considered in terms of the requirements of the rational planning process. This method of evaluating plans assumes that all the relevant goals of the plans under consideration have been identified. Goals are defined operationally in order to be analyzed in the goals-achievement matrix. According to this procedure, the costs and the benefits of a course of action, which has been designed to serve a set of objectives, are its positive and negative contributions to the achievement of each of the objectives. This, the costs and the benefits resulting from a particular course of action are considered only in relation to the goals for which they have significance. The extent of goal achievement is measured in monetary units, in other quantitative units or in qualitative terms, depending on how the relevant goals have been defined. The incidence of the costs and the benefits is also recorded. Finally, the relative effectiveness of alternative courses of action in achieving the set of desired objectives is determined. This is done by applying a weighting system to objectives and to subgroups, sectors, locations or activities which are affected. In the second section of the book, the goals-achievement matrix is applied to the evaluation of transportation plans. Possible objectives of transportation plans are posited and measures for determining the extent of achievement of these objectives are suggested. The effect of alternative transportation policies on the achievement of these goals is examined. Finally, the goals-achievement matrix is applied to a case study--the evaluation of alternative transportation plans for Cambridge, England. The primary conclusion of the study is that the goals-achievement matrix is more consistent with the rational planning model than the other methods of evaluating plans that are explored, and that, given certain assumptions, it can be successfully employed for evaluating plans.

• Corporate Authors:

  Regional Science Research Institute

  P.O. Box 8776
  Philadelphia, PA  United States  19101
• Authors:
  • HILL, M
• Publication Date: 1973

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 273 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Case studies; City planning; Evaluation; Highway planning; Index tests; Matrices (Mathematics); Strategic planning; Transportation planning; Urban transportation; Water resources
• Old TRIS Terms: Index properties
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00263830
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: No. 5 Mono Serie
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Dec 13 1974 12:00AM