Need-Based Project Prioritization: Alternative to Cost-Benefit Analysis

This paper presents a need-based methodology to prioritize and select highway projects for improvement. This approach is based on developing a multiattribute need function that quantifies relative concerns of a highway agency and the traveling public about various physical and operational deficiencies on different highway segments. It is an effective alternative to the traditional cost-benefit analysis. While the cost-benefit analysis may be useful in evaluating a small number of project alternatives at a fixed location (e.g., alternative alignments for a single corridor), it has major limitations when applied to a large-scale (e.g., statewide) highway construction program. This paper discusses some of the philosophical and practical limitations of the cost-benefit analysis and how the need-based approach overcomes these limitations. A successful implementation of the need-based approach to Kansas’s statewide highway improvement program is also described.