Linking The Disciplines Of Engineering And Economics In Transportation Infrastructure Planning

Download or read book Linking the Disciplines of Engineering and Economics in Transportation Infrastructure Planning written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both engineering and economics deal with measurement, forecasting and recommendations, yet the two are not always integrated in an adequate manner when it comes to financing issues in transportation. Decisions based on pure engineering analysis without regard for the value of resources consumed or for their changing value over time is as serious an omision as the calculation of the economic cost of building a structure without regard for its engineering integrity. In the first case, the transportation planner may find that funds run out before the project is completed while a failing in the second case may result in the structure simply collapsing. With rising costs of capacity maintenance and expansion in transportation infrastructure, Canada is faced with difficult choices in determining which elements of transportation infrastructure supply will be rehabilitated, which upgraded and which allowed to decline. When transportation issues are arrayed against health, education, pension and other important areas, and when all of these choices are further constrained by the problems of untenable public debt levels and growing environmental concerns, the extent of this major dilemma may seem unresolvable at times. Within such a system of financial envelopes and constraints, transportation planners must do more than calculate costs. Traditional approaches dealing with supply side solutions are not sufficient in this changing environment. Methods of transportation planning that deal with demand modification will be important for the future. Yet, even within the supply side, further advancements can be made in the quality of the financial estimates. This paper deals with the question of financial discounting and optimizing of transportation infrastructure. It analyzes the impact of differing discount rates on expenditure choices, using recent highway costing analysis as the data base. The results apply with equal weight to airport facilities, the seaway, ports and rail lines. For the covering abstract of the Conference, see IRRD Abstract No. 807758.