Quantifying economic benefits for rail infrastructure projects.

PDFTech Reportcmr15-004TR201410RailroadsInfrastructureEconomic developmentStakeholdersEconomic benefitsMethodologyConstruction projectsStrategic planningMetrics (Quantitative assessment)MissouriMissouri. Dept. of Transportation. Research, Development and Technology DivisionLong, SuzannaQin, RuwenBetak, JohnOjha, AkhileshMyers, JohnMissouri University of Science and Technology. Dept. of Engineering Management and Systems EngineeringUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThis project identifies metrics for measuring the benefit of rail infrastructure projects for keystakeholders. It is important that stakeholders with an interest in community economic development play an activerole in the development of the rail network. Economic development activities in both rural and urban settings areessential if a nation is to realize growth and prosperity. Many communities have developed goals and visions toestablish an economic development program, but they often fail to achieve their goals due to uncertainties during theproject selection and planning process. Communities often select a project from a vast pool of ideas with only limitedcapital available for investment. Selecting the right project at the right time becomes imperative for economic andcommunity development. This process is significantly hampered by limited methods for quantifying the economicbenefit to key stakeholders. Four methodologies are used in this project to determine the most useful tools forquantifying benefit given the availability of data, relevant expertise, and other information