Abstract:
In FY 2000, Congress directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to conduct the Economic Development Highways Initiative (known hereinafter as the Initiative). FHWA has substantially completed this assignment. Over 200 state, local, and regional officials, including many elected officials, provided advice to FHWA and the prime contractor (AECOM Consult) during studies conducted under the Initiative. A number of subcontractors— including universities—also participated. The Initiative was also informed by contemporaneous research sponsored by FHWA and others working outside of the formal structure of the Initiative itself. Lessons learned were many: respecting the state/local process can result in more realistic expectations; a meaningful assessment of economic development potential requires a realistic look at the highway improvement process and a hard look at the existing local economy; studies done during an improvement project should be considered, in addition to the textbook cases of before (ex-ante) studies and before/after studies (ex-post); and a number of methods can be used to estimate the impact of improvements. The overall results support the general linkage between highway improvements and economic development. The results also support the contention that the highway improvements are frequently a necessary but not sufficient condition for capturing economic growth potential. Based on these lessons, a framework for an evaluative procedure is presented.
