Citation

Bitzan J, Toliver D, Zink D. J. Transp. Res. Forum 1993; 33(1): 42-53.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Transportation Research Forum)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In recent years local officials have been confronted with a major dilemma. The quality of rural roads and bridges has deteriorated rapidly, while the available finances to improve the quality of these roads and bridges have also declined. It has become obvious that some cost-reducing solutions will become necessary in the near future. This study examines consolidation of county road services as one possible cost-reducing strategy. Specifically, the study presents a model of county road expenditures in an attempt to assess economies of size in the provision of North Dakota county road services. The study provides two major improvements over previous studies attempting to assess the extent of size economies in rural road services: (1) it explicitly accounts for county official behavior and available county resources, and (2) it can be applied with limited data sets. The study finds significant size economies in the provision of North Dakota county road services.