Economic Effects of Highway Relief Routes on Small and Medium-Size Communitites:Literature Review and Identification of Issues

摘要

Residents and business leaders in communities for which the Texas Department ofTransportation (TxDOT) is proposing relief routes are understandably concerned about potential negative impacts. The purpose of this project is to provide TxDOT planners and engineers with reliable information they can use to address the questions and concerns of local residents and business leaders. This information will be based on experiences with previous relief route projects, including a quantitative analysis of these impact in selected communities. This report summarizes the first phase of the research; the identification of key issues from the affected communities' perspective and from TxDoT's perspective, a review of the literature on highway relief routes pertaining to theory and methodologies, and a summary of the findings of previous research on this topic. This report provides the basis for the work that follows by pointing to variables to include in the quantitative analysis, by identifying the questions to ask in the case studies, and by providing guidance regarding appropriate methodologies.