Investigation of economic impacts of Florida's highway beautification program.

PDFTech ReportBDV31-977-03LandscapingHighwaysBeautificationEconomic impactsExpendituresReturn on investmentEconomic benefitsRegional analysisFloridaFlorida. Dept. of TransportationKhachatryan, HaykHodges, Alan W.Rahmani, MohammadStevens, Thomas J.University of Florida. Institute of Food and Agricultural SciencesUS Transportation CollectionIn Florida, the state legislature allocates funds for highway landscaping projects each year. While highwaybeautification may enhance the driving experience of motorists and result in more environmentallysustainable road infrastructure, it is also presumed to provide monetary benefits by attracting privateinvestment and contributing to the economy, both directly and indirectly. This study was commissioned bythe Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to estimate the regional economic impacts of highwaybeautification expenditures within the State. Activities related to highway beautification generate economicimpacts in the form of increased industry output (revenues), employment, income, and local and stategovernment tax revenues. The results showed that total expenditures for highway beautification by theFDOT in all eight districts from 2008 to 2013, generated 2,112 full-time and part-time job-years, $245.2million in output or revenue impacts, $147.6 million in value added contribution to GDP, $110 million inlabor income impacts, $32.6 million in other property income impacts, and $5 million in indirect businesstaxes impacts. Simple annual average economic impacts of highway beautification expenditures in Floridafrom 2008 to 2013 amounted to $46 million in output impacts and $28 million in value-added impacts. Theimpact per dollar of investment was $1.53 in output, $0.92 in value added, $0.62 in labor income, and $0.03in state and local taxes, while the employment impact was 13.2 jobs per million dollars of investment