IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedawp/101968.html

Evaluating Transportation Improvements Quantitatively: A Primer

Author

Abstract

How do we evaluate the welfare gains from transportation infrastructure investment? We present a quantitative spatial framework that integrates both traffic and economic responses to infrastructure investment and derive the elasticity of aggregate welfare to improvements in the transportation network. This approach extends the traditional "social savings" method to incorporate agglomeration and dispersion externalities and endogenous traffic congestion. We calibrate the model to the US freight transport network and assess the welfare impact of upgrading segments of the US Interstate Highway System, quantifying the marginal gains from improvements in specific corridors and highlighting where the returns to investment are highest.

Suggested Citation

  • Treb Allen & Woan Foong Wong & Simon Fuchs, 2025. "Evaluating Transportation Improvements Quantitatively: A Primer," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2025-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:101968
    DOI: 10.29338/wp2025-13
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.atlantafed.org/-/media/Project/Atlanta/FRBA/Documents/research/publication/working-paper/2025/10/14/13-evaluating-transporation-improvements-quantitatively-a-primer.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.29338/wp2025-13?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ducruet, César & Juhász, Réka & Nagy, Dávid Krisztián & Steinwender, Claudia, 2024. "All aboard: The effects of port development," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Anthony J. Venables, 2007. "Evaluating Urban Transport Improvements: Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Presence of Agglomeration and Income Taxation," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 41(2), pages 173-188, May.
    3. Fogel, Robert William, 1962. "A Quantitative Approach to the Study of Railroads in American Economic Growth: A Report of Some Preliminary Findings," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 163-197, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Rus Ginés & Socorro M. Pilar, 2017. "Planning, Evaluation and Financing of Transport Infrastructures: Rethinking the Basics," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 143-160, June.
    2. Konstantin Buechel, Stephan Kyburz, 2016. "Fast Track to Growth? The Impact of Railway Access on Regional Economic Development in 19th Century Switzerland," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper12, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    3. Melo, Patricia C. & Graham, Daniel J. & Noland, Robert B., 2009. "A meta-analysis of estimates of urban agglomeration economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 332-342, May.
    4. Mark Thissen & Narisra Limtanakool & Hans Hilbers, 2011. "Road pricing and agglomeration economies: a new methodology to estimate indirect effects applied to the Netherlands," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 47(3), pages 543-567, December.
    5. Rosa M. González-Marrero & Rosa M. Lorenzo-Alegría & Gustavo A. Marrero, 2011. "Los Efectos Territoriales de las Infraestructuras: La inversión en redes de alta velocidad ferroviaria," Economic Reports 05-2011, FEDEA.
    6. Starkie, David, 2013. "Transport infrastructure: Adding value," IEA Discussion Papers 50, Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
    7. Ting Xiao & Xin Yu & Liang Ding, 2023. "Can Farmers Punch Their Tickets to Wealth? The Spillover Effect of High-Speed Railway on Agriculture Development," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    8. Yang, Zhiwei & Li, Can & Jiao, Jingjuan & Liu, Wei & Zhang, Fangni, 2020. "On the joint impact of high-speed rail and megalopolis policy on regional economic growth in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 20-30.
    9. Maria Börjesson & Jonas Eliasson, 2019. "Should values of time be differentiated?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 357-375, May.
    10. Piotr Rosik & Julia Wójcik, 2022. "Transport Infrastructure and Regional Development: A Survey of Literature on Wider Economic and Spatial Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
    11. David Escamilla-Guerrero, 2024. "All aboard! Railroad access and Mexico-US mass migration," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _212, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Marion Drut & Aurélie Mahieux, 2014. "Correcting agglomeration economies: How air pollution matters," Working Papers hal-01007019, HAL.
    13. Vickerman, Roger, 2018. "Can high-speed rail have a transformative effect on the economy?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 31-37.
    14. Andersson, Matts & Dehlin, Fredrik & Jörgensen, Peter & Pädam, Sirje, 2015. "Wider economic impacts of accessibility: a literature survey," Working papers in Transport Economics 2015:14, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    15. Yoshitsugu Kanemoto, 2013. "Pitfalls in estimating “wider economic benefits” of transportation projects," GRIPS Discussion Papers 13-20, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    16. Anas, Alex & Chang, Huibin, 2023. "Productivity benefits of urban transportation megaprojects: A general equilibrium analysis of «Grand Paris Express»," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    17. Mounir Amdaoud & César Ducruet & Marc‐Antoine Faure, 2022. "The mutual specialization of port and urban functions: The case of France," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 439-460, April.
    18. Li, Bingjing & Ma, Lin, 2022. "JUE insight: Migration, transportation infrastructure, and the spatial transmission of COVID-19 in China," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    19. Deda Đelović, 2024. "Considerations on Prevention of Pollution from Ships in a Seaport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-24, June.
    20. Eliasson, Jonas & Savemark, Christian & Franklin, Joel, 2020. "The impact of land use effects in infrastructure appraisal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 262-276.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R13 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:101968. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rob Sarwark (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbatus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.