Browsing by Author "London, Mosi"
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Item Developing a framework for the impact evaluation of different types of transportation projects(University of Delaware, 2014) London, MosiThe relationship between transportation infrastructure investment and economic growth has become an issue of increasing interest for local, regional and national government agencies, where this relationship is generally considered to be a positive one. Investments in transportation are deemed to have high returns, take advantage of underutilized resources, and support the day-to-day operations of businesses as well as the working population through improved access, allowing increased labor force participation. While these assertions concerning transportation investment are encouraging, they are generic in nature. There is an apparent lack of detail about the spatial scales and type of transportation projects that can or do aid in the improvement of the economy. Using meta-analysis (MA), a framework is developed to effectively select and measure performance metrics for specific types of transportation projects and evaluate their impact on the system features of the larger transportation systems. Traditional frameworks for analyzing these projects, such as, cost-benefit analysis (CBA), are useful but are limited in nature when exploring non-economic values. This research supports the decision-making process for selecting future transportation projects using a robust set of performance measures and historic data for specific project types. It was found that while transportation infrastructure investment generally results in economic growth, there are significant differences in impact based on spatial scale and project type.Item Using data envelopment analysis to explore state-by-state transportation performance indices(University of Delaware, 2011) London, MosiThe Transportation Performance Index (TPI), developed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, captures the relationship between transportation infrastructure performance and the U.S. economy, specifically in terms of GDP growth. Both a national TPI and state-by-state indices were developed. Although the TPI serves as a useful quantitative tool that connects economic prosperity to transportation infrastructure, this relationship is complex and the TPI does not capture the nuances, particularly at the state-by-state level. The TPI is assembled from a variety of indicators capturing supply, quality of service and utilization for each mode of transportation, but it does not fully consider environmental influences that exert pressure on the TPI. Using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, the relationship between TPI and GDP can be clearly defined for the state-by-state data, while taking into account the effects of environmental factors, such as population growth and annual vehicle miles traveled. Similar to TPI, DEA yields a single measure of performance, where it produces a ratio of the aggregated, weighted outputs to the aggregated, weighted inputs by state and year. The main output is GDP per capita and the main input is TPI, along with other inputs, including debt and life expectancy. Overall, the research presented in this thesis focuses on how much influence environmental factors have on the relationship between transportation infrastructure and economic growth.