Developing TranslinkeD Corridor Investment Strategies and Assessing Their Socio-Economic Impacts on the Detroit Metropolitan Area and the Northwest Ohio Regional Community.

摘要

Due to mounting fiscal pressures over the last few years, the federal government as well as many state and municipal governments in the United States (U.S.) have had to reexamine their transportation policies and projects such as the TranslinkeD program in the Detroit metropolitan area which seeks to link new economic growth with infrastructure, logistics, and distribution development. Tax increases and/or spending cuts which aim to trim budget deficits are currently major preoccupations of most policy makers and legislative bodies. With regard to the task of building new or rehabilitating bridges, highways, and toll gates, cost-benefit analysis and economic impact studies are often undertaken by various government entities to rank and prioritize spending in the hopes of maximizing fiscal efficiency and road usage benefits. Since much of highway construction and maintenance expenditures is absorbed by state governments, it is mostly up to state policy makers to decide transportation priorities. However, no research to date has been conducted to evaluate the comparative efficiency of state road provisions to commuters and shippers which often affect the state governments budgetary allocation and spending plans. This report is one of the first to assess and rank the comparative efficiency of all 50 states in the U.S. by using data envelopment analysis and then explain variations in efficiency ratings by using Tobit regression analysis.