Comparative study of expenditure on highways in Louisiana.

PDFTech Report1ExpendituresHighway planningAnnual reviewsLouisianaLouisiana Transportation Research CenterWilmot, Chester G.Louisiana Transportation Research CenterUS Transportation CollectionThe objective of the investigation is to accumulate factual information on highway expenditure in Louisiana and other states and make a comparison among them to identify whether funding in Louisiana is significantly different from that in other states.Reliance has been placed on official data sources to make the comparison. Because states differ in area, population, topography and income levels, comparisons are not made in absolute terms such as total expenditure in the state but in relative terms such as annual expenditure per capita or annual expenditure per lane-mile of highway in each state. When comparing historical trends, however, we have reverted to the absolute measure of total expenditure because the comparison is on spending within the same state. However, to allow year-to-year comparisons to be made in comparable units, we have adjusted the current values for inflation. We have adjusted for inflation by using a composite measure of past highway construction prices recorded over the period 1960-1994 by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA, 1995, table PT-1). The price index derived from this source behaves similarly to the Consumer Price Index but has some important differences from it