An Analysis Of The Economic Impacts Of Access Management Strategies Along Select Corridors

The purpose of this project is to analyze the economic effect of access management strategies (AMSs) on businesses around South Carolina along select corridors. AMSs include constructing raised medians and other physical barriers along roads such as right in right out turn lanes. These types of AMSs are meant to improve roadway safety, decrease travel time, and lower congestion along major corridors by controlling where and how vehicles are allowed to turn. One of the perceived downsides of AMSs is that business owners believe that it lowers their profits by making it more difficult for customers to access their businesses. The focus of our study has been to analyze both the perceived and the actual economic impacts of common AMSs on businesses so that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will be able to have a definitive and objective analysis of their effects on business profits and operations. Similar studies have been completed in other states and have shown positive results. These states include North Carolina, Washington, and Texas. Each state completed an analysis that consisted of an operational study while only Washington completed an economic study. This study was performed for the same reason as ours, to be able to give empirical evidence to businesses that outlined the effects of AMSs. During the period in which I worked on the project we focused on a section of Two Notch Road in Columbia. Our goal in this area is to focus on a raised median installed in 2013 and 2014