Implementing Highway Safety Manual Life-Cycle Benefit–Cost Analysis of Safety Improvements

2017 ◽  
Vol 2636 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
Jordan B. Frustaci ◽  
Mitsuru Saito ◽  
Grant G. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Reliable Method ◽  
Highway Safety ◽  
Cost Analyses ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Highway Safety Manual ◽  
State Highway ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) lists four methods for determining the change in crash severity in order of reliability. The life-cycle benefit–cost analysis currently used by the Utah Department of Transportation is similar to the least reliable method. To provide a tool to perform the most reliable method defined by the HSM—the predictive method—this research developed a spreadsheet-based tool to allow department engineers to perform life-cycle benefit–cost analyses for the 11 roadway segment types included in the HSM. The tool can be used to analyze the cost-effectiveness of safety-related improvements identified by the Utah crash prediction model, which was previously developed to identify safety hot spots on the state highway system. The concept and the spreadsheet layout are presented by using the rural two-lane, two-way highway spreadsheet as an example. Then a case of a rural two-lane, two-way highway with two selected countermeasures is presented to demonstrate the use of this spreadsheet to compare their benefit–cost ratios. One important aspect associated with life-cycle benefit–cost analyses of safety-related improvements is the cost of implementing such improvements. Safety-related improvements are often included in larger construction contracts and such costs vary significantly, depending on the way they are included in the larger contracts. Hence, construction costs of safety-related improvements—such as initial cost, periodic rehabilitation cost, and annual maintenance costs—must be prepared outside this spreadsheet by the user.

scholarly journals Integrated stochastic life cycle benefit cost analysis of hydronically-heated apron pavement system

2019 ◽  
Vol 224 ◽  
pp. 994-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Nahvi ◽  
V. Dimitra Pyrialakou ◽  
Pritha Anand ◽  
S.M. Sajed Sadati ◽  
Konstantina Gkritza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Benefit Cost

Is Existence Value Appropriate for Regulatory Benefit–Cost Analysis?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-456
Author(s):  
Seth Binder
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Natural Resource Economics ◽  
Cost Analyses ◽  
Existence Value ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Existence Values ◽  
Benefit Cost

AbstractSince its introduction to the field of environmental and natural resource economics in the late 1960s, existence value has faced several critiques from economists, psychologists, and philosophers. Critics have taken aim at the notion’s conceptual ambiguity and lack of connection to observable behavior, its incompatibility with cognitive processes and its sensitivity to cognitive biases, and ethical shortcomings in applying existence values to environmental decisionmaking. Unlike some critiques of existence value that draw on cognitive and ethical frameworks for decisionmaking fundamentally at odds with stated preference methods and benefit–cost analysis (BCA), this paper takes as given the use and adequacy of both. It focuses on challenges to existence value per se, with respect to the ability of existence value estimates to contribute to benefit–cost analyses in a way that is consistent with qualities of BCA that its proponents value: the objectivity, commensurability, and moral salience of the values analyzed. In light of the challenges, inclusion of existence value in benefit–cost analyses is found to inevitably compromise the quality of the BCA with respect to each criterion.

scholarly journals Accounting for Nonmarket Impacts in a Benefit-Cost Analysis of Underground Coal Mining in New South Wales, Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Gillespie ◽  
Marit E. Kragt
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Coal Mining ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Underground Coal Mining ◽  
Cost Analyses ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Benefit Cost

Strategic inquiries into coal mining by Australian Governments advocate increased use of comprehensive benefit cost analyses and nonmarket valuation studies when assessing individual project proposals. The study reported in this paper addresses these Government concerns, by integrating results of a choice experiment into a benefit cost analysis undertaken for a Colliery in the Southern Coalfield of New South Wales, Australia. Results of the study were used to aid the State government in evaluating proposals for continued underground coal mining. We show that impacts of mine subsidence on streams, swamps, and Aboriginal sites negatively affect community wellbeing. Social welfare increases with the length of time that the mine provides direct employment. We demonstrate how implicit price estimates from the choice experiment can be incorporated into a benefit cost analysis of continued mining. Benefit cost analyses were carried out for a range of policy scenarios—including policies that would restrict mining activities at the Colliery and protect environmental and cultural features in the Southern Coalfield. Notwithstanding the environmental impacts generated by mining operations, continued mining is shown to be a more economically efficient course of action.

scholarly journals A retrospective assessment of the costs of EPA’s 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kopits
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Retrospective Assessment ◽  
Emission Standards ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Benefits And Costs

Abstract:While the need to update EPA benefit-cost analysis to reflect the most recent science is broadly acknowledged, little work has been done examining how well ex ante BCAs estimate the actual benefits and costs of regulations. This paper adds to the existing literature on ex post cost analyses by examining EPA’s analysis of the 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards. Due to data limitations and minimal ability to construct a reasonable counterfactual for each component of the cost analysis, the assessment relies mainly on industry expert opinion, augmented with ex post information from publicly available data sources when possible. The paper finds that the total cost of bringing line-haul locomotives into compliance with the 1998 Locomotive Emission Standards rule remains uncertain. Even though the initial per-unit locomotive compliance costs were higher than predicted by EPA, total costs also depend on the number of locomotives affected by the regulation. Over 2000–2009, the number of newly built line-haul locomotives was higher but the number of remanufactured line-haul locomotives was lower than EPA’s estimate.

scholarly journals The Potential Economic Impact of Biotechnology and Related Research on the Forest Sector

1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. L. C. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Forest Community ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Manufacturing Plants ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost

The Canadian forest sector is at a critical juncture in maintaining its competitive position internationally. One reason is the difficulty that we are experiencing in holding the line on the costs of timber and its processing. The expenditure on silviculture alone is often in the range of 10-20% of the cost of delivering roundwood to manufacturing plants. The entire forest community is counting of forestry science, and especially biotechnology, to enhance industry viability and provide solutions to problems with environmental quality. However, the funding of forestry R&D has always been handicapped by our inability to argue persuasively for science budgets. The central theme of this paper is that the application of biotechnology and other science to forestry certainly does pay. A synthesis of traditional and newer approaches to benefit-cost analysis is recommended to assist science managers in making their case for financial support.

A Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis on the Elwha River Restoration Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-100
Author(s):  
Allen Bellas ◽  
Lea Kosnik
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
River Restoration ◽  
River Ecosystem ◽  
Elwha River ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Current State ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Original Analysis ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Benefit Cost

AbstractIn 1992, Congress passed The Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act with the goal of “full restoration of The Elwha River Ecosystem and native anadromous fisheries.” As part of that act, the federal government was required to produce a benefit-cost analysis on dam removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, which was published in 1994. This article revisits that initial 1994 benefit-cost analysis; background on its methods and assumptions is given, comparisons are made to current state-of-the-art techniques in benefit-cost analysis, and an ex post benefit-cost analysis of the project is conducted for comparison purposes. We find that the cost and scope of the project exceeded original expectations, the cost of the foregone electricity generation was less than expected, and that anticipated recreational and fisheries benefits were both delayed, and lower, than expected. Furthermore, issues such as the value of hatchery-spawned versus wild anadromous fish seem not to have been anticipated in the original analysis, highlighting the fact that in doing an ex ante analysis, researchers must expect that unexpected factors may influence the ex post results of any project.

Benefit-Cost Analysis, Policy Impacts, and Congressional Hearings

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Deven Carlson ◽  
Joseph Ripberger ◽  
Wesley Wehde ◽  
Hank Jenkins-Smith ◽  
Carol Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Cost Analyses ◽  
Congressional Hearings ◽  
Benefit Cost Analysis ◽  
Glen Canyon Dam ◽  
Guidance Documents ◽  
Policy Impacts ◽  
Glen Canyon ◽  
Benefit Cost

Methods for identifying relevant policy impacts for valuation in benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) have received relatively little attention in academic research, applied policy analyses, and guidance documents. In this paper, we develop a systematic, transparent, and replicable process that draws upon information contained in records of Congressional hearings to identify relevant policy impacts for valuation in a BCA. Our approach involves classifying – and subsequently analyzing – statements from witnesses testifying in Congressional hearings on the topic of the BCA. By using Congressional hearings as the basis for our approach, we are identifying potential policy impacts from information provided during the very process the BCA is intended to inform. However, because this approach is quite resource-intensive and would be somewhat burdensome for agencies to implement, it may be best applied in the academic realm, with identified impacts resulting from such applications then made available to agency personnel for potential inclusion in BCAs. Using the case of the Glen Canyon Dam, we demonstrate the approach and its resulting improvements in the quality and transparency of the BCA it was intended to inform.

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