Browsing by Author "Aultman, Sara"

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    Advanced Acquisition of Right-of-Way: Best Practices and Corridor Case Studies
    (Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 2009-01-28) Aultman, Sara
    There is mounting pressure on state transportation agencies to expand road capacity to keep up with demand. The most expensive part of many transportation projects, especially roadway expansions, can be acquiring the rights-of-way (Williams and Frey, 2004). From 1988 to 2008, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) spent nearly $800 million acquiring rights-of-way (ROW). When and how Mn/DOT acquires ROWs to expand roadways is an issue with important financial and non-financial ramifications. One approach for acquiring ROW is a process called advanced acquisition. Advanced acquisition is acquiring land prior to project design approval, which is the traditional trigger for ROW acquisition (Mn/DOT, 2008). Recently, Barnes and Watters (2005) conducted a study that questioned the wisdom of advanced acquisition. The study examined the primary financial benefits of advanced acquisition, specifically lower ROW costs. They concluded that the growth rate of property values is not high enough to support advanced acquisition as a general strategy. They placed this in context by showing that the interest rate on a medium-term bond is greater than the average appreciation rate of real estate. The significance of this is that state transportation agencies would receive a better return on their money by investing in bonds than buying property early (Barnes and Watters, 2005). Barnes and Watters highlighted the need for a more detailed analysis that would go beyond evaluating county-wide appreciation rates. They suggested examining property adjacent to transportation corridors since these properties are more likely to be intensely developed. The goal of this report is to evaluate Mn/DOT’s current advanced acquisition practices and investigate the appreciation rate of parcels adjacent to transportation corridors. This report will address three major issues related to advanced acquisition. First, we assessed current advanced acquisition practices at Mn/DOT by surveying Mn/DOT district offices. Second, we conducted a survey of cities state-wide about the use of preservation tools to acquire ROW and strategies to improve the ROW process. Third, we investigated the claim that parcels adjacent to transportation corridors appreciate at a significantly different rate than the average parcel. We accomplished this by collecting property assessment data and calculating the appreciation rate for parcels adjacent to three corridors and comparing this to the appreciation rate of randomly selected parcels in the same county. We then used statistical analysis to evaluate which property characteristics are helpful in predicting properties that appreciate over 25% per year. Lastly, the findings from the two surveys and three corridors case studies were integrated into two recommendations.
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    Advanced Acquisition of Right-of-Way: Best Practices and Corridor Case Studies
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, Research Services Section, 2009-01) Aultman, Sara; Lari, Adeel
    The most expensive part of many transportation projects, especially roadway expansions, is acquiring the Right-of- Way (ROW). One approach that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) has used to decrease these costs is through a practice known as advanced acquisition. This study documents Mn/DOT’s current advanced acquisition practices and investigates the appreciation rates of parcels adjacent to transportation corridors. Current practices were documented by surveying the eight Mn/DOT district offices and city officials. These surveys identified current problems with advanced acquisition practices, such as excess land acquisition, lack of guidelines on preservation tools, and the increased need for communication between cities, counties, and Mn/DOT. The corridor case studies showed that the effect of being adjacent to a transportation corridor is heterogeneous across the three corridors studied. A binomial logit model was developed and the only significant variable was the subdivided. This indicates that a parcel that has subdivided is strongly correlated with an appreciation rate above 25% per year. From these findings we developed two recommendations. First, we recommend Mn/DOT develop a set of guidelines for Mn/DOT district managers regarding how and when to use certain ROW preservation tools. Second, we recommend Mn/DOT develop a monitoring program for transportation corridors in the Twin Cities that can identify properties on the verge of subdivision or a land use change.
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    Study of Public Acceptance of Tolling with New Capacity and Credits: Concepts of FAST Miles and FEE Lanes
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation Research Services Section, 2010-07) Lari, Adeel; Aultman, Sara
    Conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes has become a relatively common managed lanes technique now employed in cities across the U.S. HOT lanes are created by developing a pricing system for existing HOV lanes that allow single occupancy vehicles to gain access to HOV lanes by paying a fee. Conversion of existing general purpose lanes to toll lanes or HOT lane operations, however, has not yet won public support as the perception persists that these “free” lanes have already been paid for and such conversions are a take-away. Focus groups were held in Minnesota to understand what policies, conditions, designs and operational characteristics could be considered that may satisfy concerns about general purpose lane adaptations to optional toll lanes or Flexible and Efficient Express (FEE) Lanes. FEE Lanes envision all users, except transit, paying a toll during peak-periods, with the lane reverting back to “free” operation outside of the peaks. Three configurations of FEE lanes were presented and a toll credit system was offered as a means to compensate users who may view the conversion as a take-away. Participants liked what they have already seen work, which is one priced lane on I-394 MnPASS, but were also concerned about user safety and equity. The credit system, which attempts to address user equity, was a source of confusion for many focus group participants. Although some participants seemed to like the idea of getting the credits to use FEE lanes, there were numerous concerns about logistics of credit management and distribution. These findings highlight the need for increased education and marketing about road pricing options which can assist in building support for a variety of pricing options, such as FEE lanes.
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    Value Capture for Transportation Finance: Technical Research Report
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2009-06) Lari, Adeel; Levinson, David; Zhao, Zhirong (Jerry); Iacono, Michael; Aultman, Sara; Vardhan, Das; Junge, Jason; Larson, Kerstin; Scharenbroich, Michael
    As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and overall levels of travel stagnate in response to increases in fuel prices, conventional sources of revenue for transportation finance such as taxes on motor fuels have been put under increasing pressure. One potential alternative as a source of revenue is a set of policies collectively referred to as value capture policies. In contrast to fuel taxes and other instruments that impose charges on users of transportation networks, value capture policies seek to generate revenue by extracting a portion of the gains in the value of land that result from improvements to transportation networks. In this report we identify a set of eight policies that contain elements of the value capture approach. These policies include land value taxes, tax increment financing, special assessments, transportation utility fees, development impact fees, negotiated exactions, joint development, and air rights. We evaluate each of the policies according to four criteria: 1) efficiency, which relates to how well the policies allocate scarce resources, 2) equity, which describes the fairness of resource allocation among different strata of society, 3) sustainability, which refers to the ability of the policy to serve as an adequate, reliable source of transportation revenue, and 4) feasibility, which refers to the degree of political and administrative difficulty associated with each policy. Since these policies are targeted toward use at the state and local level in Minnesota, we conclude by examining some legal and administrative issues related to the implementation of each policy with special reference to Minnesota.