This research addresses two important issues facing transportation economists and planners:
the relationship between transportation investment and economic development and the
methodology for evaluating transportation projects and programs. Transportation is viewed
as an important factor which enters the production functions of firms and the consumption
functions of individuals. The demand for and the supply of transportation cannot be determined
within the transportation system. Changes in the transportation system may have far-reaching
and, most importantly, feedback effects that not only generate secondary impacts,
tertiary impacts, and so on; but also influence further decisions and, therefore, generate more
changes further along in the system. The systems approach is crucial to the identification and
quantification of impacts of transportation improvements and to the better understanding of
transportation/economic development relationships. System dynamics is used in this research
as a tool for modeling and simulating transportation/economic interactions.
This research conceptualizes the roJe of transportation in a broad socioeconomic context and
develops a framework for applying the systems approach to the evaluation of transportation
investments. Five scenarios examined with the methodology are: highway improvement,
corridor development, HOV lane provision, impacts of transportation in a closed economy, and
regional impacts of transportation. Conclusions are drawn which signify general policy implications.
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