Ep 10: 7 Steps to Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Transportation Projects

Episode Summary:  Listen to national experts and certified planners, Keli Kemp and Kirsten Mote, along with guest speaker Jennifer Zhan, all with Modern Mobility Partners, talk about what planners can do to demonstrate the economic benefits of investing in a specific transportation project.  Listeners will learn the following in this episode:

• Selecting a project or program


• Researching similar projects and programs for proven benefits


• Looking at USDOT Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) guidelines


• Researching additional benefits


• Evaluating all potential qualitative benefits


• Capturing all project costs


• Overview of how to complete a BCA

Links:

• Drivers cover just 51 percent of U.S. Road Spending https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/


• Evaluating Transportation Benefits https://www.vtpi.org/tca/tca07.pdf


• Transit’s Not Bleeding the Taxpayer Dry – Roads Are https://usa.streetsblog.org/2011/12/12/transit%E2%80%99s-not-sucking-the-taxpayer-dry-roads-are/


• Federal Spending by Category and Agency https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/spending/categories/


• USDOT BCA Guidance for Discretionary Grant Programs

https://www.transportation.gov/office-policy/transportation-policy/benefit-cost-analysis-guidance-discretionary-grant-programs-0

Co-Hosts:

• Keli Kemp, AICP, PTP has almost 25 years of experience in transportation planning and consulting and co-founded Modern Mobility Partners in in early 2018 with Jennifer Zhan. Keli holds a M.S. degree in Urban Planning from Texas A&M University.


• Kirsten Mote, AICP has over 13 years of experience in transportation planning and most recently got certified by MIT’s Media Lab in their Beyond Smart Cities program. Kirsten holds a M.S. in City Planning from Georgia Tech and is the Director of Smart Mobility Planning at Modern Mobility Partners.

Guest Speaker:

• Jennifer Zhan, AICP, PTP has over 20 years of experience in transportation planning and consulting and co-founded Modern Mobility Partners in the early 2018 with Keli Kemp. Jennifer holds a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Clemson University.

Modern Mobility Partners is an Atlanta-based women and minority-owned transportation planning and traffic engineering consulting firm.  Service areas include transportation planning, travel demand modeling, traffic and revenue forecasting, traffic engineering, project prioritization and performance measures, funding strategies and grant applications, all looking through a lens of new and emerging technologies.

If you are interested in learning more about Modern Mobility Partners, please visit www.modernmobilitypartners.com.  If you are interested in becoming a guest on our podcast, please email [email protected].