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Citation |
Miller SB, Pautsch GR, Hamlett CA, Baumel CP. Transp. Res. Rec. 1987; 1106: 1-8. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 1987, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing) |
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DOI |
unavailable |
PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
The construction of new local rural roads and the improvement of existing rural roads are major components of most economic development plans in developing countries. However, many observers believe that the problem in the United States is that there are too many local rural roads. Most of today's local rural roads and bridges were constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900s when traffic consisted of horse-pulled wagons and light vehicles that served many small farms and rural households. The number of farms and households on these roads has declined sharply in recent decades, and most vehicles traveling on them are heavier and wider than those for which the roads were originally designed. The physical condition of this road system is deteriorating, and funds are insufficient to maintain and reconstruct these roads to the level needed to accommodate the large vehicles currently traveling on them. A recent analysis indicated that a modest road abandonment program would result in cost savings to local governments greater than the additional costs to the traveling public of driving on rerouted roads. This analysis, which is an extension of the earlier research just mentioned, examines how paving a core system of local rural roads would affect the benefits and costs of local rural road abandonment. The results of this analysis indicate that the direct benefits of constructing a core of paved local rural roads are fewer than the costs of building the paved core. However, the estimated benefits do not account for cost savings from overhead traffic that may travel on the newly paved road, economic development, or changes in traffic origins and destinations. The main conclusion of this analysis is that the paved core has little impact on the benefit-cost ratios of road abandonment. Language: en |
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Keywords |
ROADS AND STREETS; TRANSPORTATION - Economics; PAVEMENTS - Construction |