 Capturing Wider Economic
Benefits PANYNJ Study and Workshop
UTRC
completes study and conducts Workshop for PANYNJ
On May 13, 2009, a UTRC team including Robert Paaswell,
Joseph Berechman and Harold Stolper from the City College of New York,
presented the findings of their study “The Wider Economic Benefits of
Transportation Investment: Theory and Practical Guidance” to the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey’s regional planning department at their
downtown offices. The project aimed to
review the relevant theory on benefit-cost analysis (BCA), to assess the
validity of arguments for wider economic benefits and their applicability to
the Port Authority, and to review quantitative methods for capturing any
wider benefits. The morning workshop
included a presentation with questions and feedback throughout from Port
Authority staff as the merits of different arguments and methods were
discussed in the context of specific capital projects.
One of the overarching findings of the study is that
there is no single, recommended approach for incorporating wider benefits, as
the appropriate methods will depend on the availability of data and
regionally calibrated models, and the nature of the project in question and
its likely impact on the transportation network and broader regional
economy. Wider benefits are highly
context-dependent, and may vary substantially across project in terms of
their sign (i.e. there may be wider economic costs) as well as
magnitude. Private consultants often
apply adjustment factors to estimate wider benefits and tout the multiplier
effects of transportation investments, but when the context in which these
parameters are applied differs markedly from the conditions under which they
were estimated, this can lead to biased estimates of project benefits.
A second overarching conclusion of the study is that wider
economic benefits are likely only significant for larger projects that
significantly impact business and household decisions at the margin. Adding capacity to a highway that is
otherwise expected to remain under-capacity into the future, for example, cannot
be reasonably expected to alter the distribution of traffic on the regional
transportation network nor trigger major economic impacts. So while there may be clear risks
associated with omitting wider economic benefits from BCA, to incorporate
them requires an assessment of the expected impacts of specific projects on
both the transportation network and regional economy; this is a
resource-intensive exercise that is likely only warranted for larger projects
with impacts that extend beyond the facility in question. Moreover, to avoid the double-counting of
benefits in non-transportation markets with transportation benefits requires
a careful treatment of induced travel and household and business travel
decisions at the margin.
The study and accompanying workshop also reviewed
specific arguments for wider benefits, including agglomeration economies,
logistical reorganization, and labor and property market impacts, among
others. One of the recurring themes of
the study is that induced travel is the key link between the transportation
market and the broader economy, and there are prospects for omitted benefits
because of the limitations of conventional travel demand models in
considering induced travel.
The
final recommendations stressed the importance of data collection at a
spatially disaggregated level, improving the treatment of induced travel in
conventional analysis—possibly by using travel elasticities—and considering a
battery of separate models focusing on non-transportation markets to
compliment conventional BCA focusing on the transportation market.
 Cycling and Walking for All New
Yorkers
Professor
John Pucher Gives Keynote Address
Dr. John Pucher, Professor at the Bloustein School of
Planning & Public Policy, Rutgers University delivered the keynote
address at the June 8th “Fit City 4 Promoting Physical
Activity Through Design”. Professor Pucher’s address, "Cycling and Walking for All New
Yorkers: Path to Improved Public
Health" was presented to public officials, health
professionals, architects and designers.
Fit City is a group which explores how buildings and urban design can
increase physical activity and improve public health. The meeting was organized by the New York
chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the NYC Department of
Health. Other publications and
presentations developed through Professor Pucher’s UTRC sponsored research,
“Bicycling Trends and Policies in Large American Cities: Lessons for New York,” can be found below.
"Bike-Transit Integration in North America,"
Journal of Public Transportation, 2009, forthcoming (with Ralph Buehler).
"Sustainable Transport that
Works: Lessons from Germany,"
World Transport Policy and Practice, Vol. 15, No. 1, May 2009, pp. 13-46
(with Ralph Buehler).
"Cycling for a Few or for
Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice in Cycling Policy,"
World Transport Policy and Practice, Vol. 15, No. 1, May 2009, pp. 57-64
(with Ralph Buehler).
2009
Spring Visiting Scholars Seminar
 May 1st,
2009: Prof. Randall Crane, Director of
the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA
On May 1st Prof. Randall Crane, Director of the
Institute of Transportation Studies at the UCLA School of Public Affairs presented
“Sex Changes Everything: On the Demographic Determinants of the U.S. Commute,
1985-2007.” The average U.S. male
historically commutes further and longer than his female counterpart. Yet pivotal changes at home, as younger
women especially increase their influence on household location and work
decisions, and in the labor market, and as women’s participation rates and
profiles approach men’s, both strongly suggest that gender’s influence on
travel might be changing as well.
Further, the independent and interactive influence of other
demographic factors, not least age and race, remain unclear. However, gendered elements of travel demand
are indeed evolving, if not always in predictable directions.
June 12th, 2009: Prof. Daniel Sperling, Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University
of California, Davis
 On June 12th, 2009: Prof. Daniel
Sperling, Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the
University of California, Davis, presented “Two Billion Cars and the Transformation
of Transportation.” The world is headed toward two billion vehicles. Is this
sustainable? Not without transforming
vehicles, fuels, and transportation—not only in the U.S., but virtually
everywhere. Professor Sperling
examined the roots of the problem: the resistant auto industry, dysfunctional
oil markets, shortsighted government policies, and unmotivated
consumers. He focused on the role of
innovation and policy in bringing about low carbon fuels, electric-drive
vehicles, socially-responsible behavior, enhanced mobility services, and
low-carbon cities.
Videos
of both of these presentations are available from UTRC upon request.
Reindustrialization
Workshop
UTRC
Hosts Reindustrialization Workshop
 On June 17th,
UTRC hosted the Workshop on Mass Transit Reindustrialization. This meeting, spearheaded by Jonathan
Feldman, Michael Locker, Robert Paaswell and Jon Rynn, brought together some
20 experts from around the country, the region and oversees. Participants spent the day debating the potential
for and impediments to subway car manufacturing in and for America. Issues explored included demand, supply,
policy and finance. The group then
worked to develop a detailed agenda for a larger meeting that will include
labor unions, companies, transit suppliers, innovation groups, financiers,
government officials, political leaders, academic and policy experts and
environmental groups. Overall, the
group is interested in several outcomes including: the design and passage of federal
legislation supporting demand and supply side components of a mass transit
reindustrialization policy; the creation of new policies whereby mass transit
agencies facilitate domestic-based innovation and production of mass transit
goods; and to constitute a network among diverse and regionally dispersed
constituency groups to promote education and action in support of
domestically-rooted innovation and production in mass transit. More
information regarding the Fall meeting designed to advance these goals will
be posted on UTRC’s website as it becomes available.
NYU’s
Rudin Center and UTRC to Co-host New Seminar Series
Recognizing
the significance of public outreach as one of the most effective ways to
increase dialogue on the transportation community and thus contribute to the
overall development of the field; UTRC
and the NYU
Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management
have joined efforts to develop, host and sponsor two different series of
public events: the Urban
Transportation and Planning Doctoral Series and From Policy to Practice: Debating Tomorrow's Critical Concerns with
Today's Policy Makers.
The
goal of the Urban Transportation and Planning Doctoral Series is to
provide an informal setting in which some of the region’s leading young
scholars, as nominated by their faculty advisors, will have an opportunity to
present their current dissertation research on cutting-edge transportation
planning matters and engage other doctoral and masters students, as well as
faculty and alumni, in a meaningful discussion.
The
policy makers’ breakfasts, From Policy to Practice: Debating Tomorrow's Critical Concerns with
Today's Policy Makers are conversations from two different
perspectives on a single, current transportation issue. In this series,
speakers will discuss current pressing transportation topics with a moderator
aiming to bridge theory with transportation practice.
Both
of these public outreach transportation series will highlight the practical
use of transportation for answering real world questions as well as provide
an important venue for an intellectual community of researchers working in
related fields. The series will take place at New York University’s Robert F.
Wagner School of Public Services, approximately once per month during the
academic year 2009-10. Check UTRC’s
website for upcoming topics and dates.
Dr.
Kamga Elected to ITS - NY Board of Directors
 The University Transportation Research
Center would like to congratulate our Associate Director of Administration
and IT, Camille Kamga, for his election to the board of directors of the
Intelligent Transportation Society of New York (ITS-NY). This position will be for a three year term
commencing July 1, 2009. Camille has been affiliated with ITS-New York for
over 10 years, volunteering his
services to foster the work of the organization including education and
outreach of ITS applications and technology, sponsorship of forums,
professional networking and conferences,
and participation in national ITS events.
At UTRC, Camille is invaluable,
overseeing administration and budgeting of a 12-university consortium and
about 50 active research projects. Dr.
Kamga received his PhD in ITS from the City College of New York. He is also the 2006 recipient of the
National Pikarsky Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Science and
Technology from the Council of University Transportation Center for his
thesis, "Estimation of Network Based Incident Delay in a Transportation
Network Using Dynamic Traffic Assignment."
Please
join us in wishing Camille all the best in his new role.
Dr.
Geddes Awarded Fulbright
Professor
Rick Geddes Awarded 2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar
Rick
Geddes, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the
Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, has won a
Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright
Commission. Rick will be conducting
economic research for six months at the Australian National University. His research will focus on the economics of
contracting and, more specifically, two key contract award mechanisms,
negotiation versus auction. “The
negotiation-versus-auction question is critical in contemporary public
procurement – the sheer size of public procurement suggests its importance
for public policy”, said Rick. Rick
will examine an area where Australia is a world leader, the public private
partnership and how they provide a vehicle for private investors to channel
capital into critical transportation facilities, including highways, bridges,
tunnels, light-rail systems, ports and inter-modal connectors.
UTRC
Research Project Gains National Recognition
UTRC’s joint research project with NYC
DOT gained national recognition as it was selected for the June 2009 UTC
Spotlight. The project, led by Matthew
Roe Spatial Analysis for Pedestrian Safety in New York City, analyzed and
mapped “hot spots.” The GIS-driven investigation of the geography of senior
pedestrian safety and the causes of pedestrian-vehicular crashes in New York
City resulted in new and improved designs implemented for certain pilot
intersections. The work involved
closely related tasks of pedestrian safety, traffic calming, and urban
design.
Research
Grants News
UTRC
Administers NYSDOT Research Projects
Recent NYS DOT projects awarded to UTRC
faculty include the following:
Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
(David C. Major, Columbia University)
Effects of Overweight Vehicles on
NYSDOT’s Infrastructure (Michel Ghosn, Neville Parker and Kolluru
Subramanian, The City College of New York / CUNY)
Field Methods for Determining Lead
Content in Bridge Paint Removal Waste (Lisa Axe, New Jersey Institute of
Technology)
Using Lighting to Alter Driver Behavior
(John D. Bullough, RPI)
Determining Binder Flushing Causes in NYS
(Thomas Bennert, Rutgers University)
NJDOT
Distributes Final Reports
NJ DOT through its NJ university partners
completed a number of research projects in the first half of 2009. Final reports which were distributed
include the following:
•Salt Runoff
Collection System
•Self
Consolidating Concrete
•Stability and
Accuracy of HCM Level of Service
•Manual of Guidelines
for Inspection of ITS Equipment and Facilities
•Inorganic
Protective Coatings and Fiber Reinforced Polymers Demonstration Project
•Laboratory
Information Management System
•Alternative
Performance Measures for Evaluation of Congestion – Congestion Analysis Model
Update
•Evaluation of
Poisson’s Ratio for Use in the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide
•Analysis of Fatal
Accidents in New Jersey
RPI
Lighting Center Conducts Several Transportation Projects and Presentations
Lighting and Vegetation for Energy-Efficient and
Safe Roadway Travel
The Lighting Research Center (www.lrc.rpi.edu) at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute completed a project for the New York State Department
of Transportation and the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority. The objective was to identify and evaluate promising approaches to
incorporating lighting and vegetation along roadways with the purpose of
determining the most promising application that could be incorporated into a
demonstration project. Based on the results of the analyses, the project team
recommended implementing a demonstration project to integrate lighting and
vegetation approaches to providing visual information at roundabouts. The
project report includes a work plan and schedule for conducting such a
demonstration project, and is available at:
www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/trans-r-and-d-repository/LightingVegetation-C-08-03-10628.pdf.
Design
and Evaluation of Effective Crosswalk Illumination
Through the Region II University Transportation
Research Center, the Lighting Research Center (www.lrc.rpi.edu) at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute completed a project for the New Jersey
Department of Transportation to systematically evaluate different approaches
to lighting at pedestrian crosswalks for improving pedestrian visibility and
detection. The project team conducted a series of photometrically accurate
lighting simulations in order to assess the visual conditions resulting from
different lighting configurations, and assessed the economics (initial cost,
and electricity and maintenance costs) of each system evaluated. The most
promising lighting configuration was field tested during a demonstration at
an intersection in New Jersey. The project report is available at: www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/research/reports/FHWA-NJ-2009-003.pdf.
Unified System of Photometry for Remote Airfield
Lighting
A consortium of American universities (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University, University of North Dakota – Aerospace, University of Alaska, and
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) was sponsored by the Federal Aviation
Administration to develop technical specifications for remote airfield
lighting systems that will be used for nighttime operations by general
(noncommercial) aircraft. As part of this project, Rensselaer’s Lighting
Research Center (www.lrc.rpi.edu) conducted three psychophysical experiments dealing specifically with
the effects of light source intensity, color and flash frequency
on both objective and subjective measures of behavior under
simulated flight conditions. Of special significance, this study
showed for the first time that the unified system of photometry
developed by the Lighting Research Center to model the relative contributions
of rods and cones for a given visual task could also be used to
model the relative contributions of rods and cones for sequential
visual tasks. The Lighting Research
Center’s proposed unified system of photometry
was designed to characterize light at any level including mesopic levels,
bridging the photopic and scotopic luminous efficacy functions. The
full details of the psychophysical experiments can be read in the paper,
“Unified System of Photometry Applied to Remote Airfield Lighting,” by MS Rea PhD, Z Yuan MS and A Bierman MS LC, recently
published in Lighting Research & Technology 2009; 41: 50-70.
Lighting
Presentations at SAE World Congress
Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center (www.lrc.rpi.edu) presented
three papers at the recent Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) 2009 World Congress in Detroit,
Michigan, each detailing research results on projects examining vehicle
headlamp performance and visibility. Summaries of each project follow and
information for obtaining the papers can be found on the SAE website with
links listed below.
Effect of
Dynamic Lighting Conditions on Visual Detection:
www.sae.org/technical/papers/2009-01-0544
Influence of
Foreground Illumination from Headlamps on Visibility and Preference:
www.sae.org/technical/papers/2009-01-0336
Visual
Recovery and Discomfort Following Exposure to Oncoming Headlamps:
www.sae.org/technical/papers/2009-01-0546
Region 2
University Transportation Research Center
(Serving New
Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands)
Robert E. Paaswell, Ph.D., P.E., Director
Camille Kamga, Ph.D., Associate Director
Penny Eickemeyer, Assistant Director for
Program Management
Harold Stolper, Assistant Director for
Research and Outreach
Danielle Petretta, Assistant Director for
Technology Transfer
Ellen Thorson, Ph.D., Senior Research
Fellow
Nadia Aslam, Administrative Assistant
Herbert Levinson, Icon Mentor
UTRC Research News is published
quarterly by the University Transportation
Research Center, which is based at
the City College of New York, 910 Marshak
Hall, New York, NY 10031. Editorial
inquiries can be made by calling Penny
Eickemeyer at 212-650-8074. For
more information on our programs or to
notify us for an address
correction, please email nadia@utrc2.org.
CONSORTIUM MEMBERS include the City
University of New York, Columbia University,
Cornell University, New Jersey Institute
of Technology, New York University,
Polytechnic Institute of NYU, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Rowan University,
Rutgers University, the State University
of New York system, Stevens Institute of Technology,
and the University of Puerto Rico.
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