Research for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning. Task 62. Best Practice Methodology for Calculating Return on Investment (ROI) for Transportation Programs and Projects

Transportation agencies are increasingly considering “return-on-investment” (ROI) when evaluating projects for inclusion in plans and programs. Projects are commonly evaluated on the basis of costs and benefits. Costs usually include project development and construction, but not full life-cycle costs. Benefits typically include safety (reductions in fatalities, injuries and property loss accidents), delay savings and possibly direct economic impacts (effects of labor and material expenditures multiplied appropriately through the local and state economy). To better consider the public’s return on the investment of it’s transportation funds, “costs” should also reflect life-cycle costs. “Benefits” should include the economic value of increased capacity and travel time reliability, and economic development/growth stimuli. The current trend of trying to leverage private capital investments through public-private–partnerships (PPPs) further complicates the evaluation of ROI. The objectives of this project are to: identify the most appropriate criteria for quantifying public transportation project ROIs that will allow comparisons between modal, operational and capacity increasing projects; identify evolving methods for considering the respective returns on public and private investments resulting from public-private partnerships; evaluate currently available methodologies that best address the estimation of ROI and: identify information and methodological gaps that suggest further research opportunities.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=1276
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Final Report sent to AASHTO.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $75,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 08-36, Task 62

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  Cambridge Systematics

  ,    
• Principal Investigators:

  Wornum, Chris

• Start Date: 20060803
• Expected Completion Date: 20070602
• Actual Completion Date: 20070602

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Life cycle costing; Public private partnerships; Return on investment; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01990534
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 08-36, Task 62
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 27 2026 3:04PM