Preliminary Analysis of Northwest Corridor Revenue from General Purpose and Managed Lanes by Household Income Group

This master’s thesis research presents Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) expenses to construct reversible managed lanes along the Northwest Corridor (NWC), takes a first-cut at estimating costs to operate the system and the time savings benefits of the system, and allocates benefits and costs across user groups by household income, using demographic results from a 2022 study. This research consisted of calculating corridor improvement costs and revenue streams that agencies face during the construction of managed lanes, beginning with construction costs (without maintenance). Gas taxes and toll expenditures were also estimated from traffic volumes and fuel consumption modeling. The Amount of gas tax spent for each household income group was then distributed among all vehicles ages to generate how much each income group is spending on gas tax alone each year, using SRTA studies. Annual corridor toll revenues were also estimated using public data. These costs were then allocated to income groups using data from a previous demographic study of corridor users. Payback periods were also analyzed to see how long it would take to completely pay off the corridors, assuming no major increase in vehicle activity, tolls, or average vehicle fuel economy.

Date

2025-06-05

Resource Type

Text

Resource Subtype

Thesis

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