Alternative valuation of highway user delay costs

Abstract

Improved highway networks result in net benefits to society, of which the reduction in travel time is one of the most important. Similarly, the delay in travel due to construction and maintenance operations represents a real cost to users. Assignment of the value of time in the cases of both benefit and cost involves judgment, since individuals value time differently and adjust for travel time changes in various ways. Values based on wage rates traditionally have been used because they are convenient, but alternative approaches based on leisure or survival are worthy of investigation. A full life-cycle cost assessment of a project requires an evaluation of future savings in travel time projected over a project’s lifetime, as well as delay costs associated with construction and subsequent maintenance operations. Due to its economic as well as social complexity, alternative measures of user travel time valuation and its network effects need to be considered.