Insight in a quagmire: leveraging societal factors in transportation research

Abstract

This paper is a story of a search for research that pays off. There is a common assumption that investment in transportation infrastructure brings economic returns. Sometimes those returns are exaggerated; sometimes those returns are double counted; sometimes those returns do not happen; sometimes society is worse off. There is great interest in justifying public infrastructure expenditures in the name of economic development. This paper explores how can we prevent transportation/economic development research from becoming a mound of exaggerated benefit claims by demonstrating how and why we can keep from relegating societal impacts to a sinking bog. The paper recommends research which tells a more accurate story of the linkage between economic development and transportation investment.