ANALYTICAL ALTERNATIVES IN INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (ITS) EVALUATION

The public/private partnership institutional structure of ITS and related externality and sustainability issues decrease the applicability and effectiveness of traditional ITS evaluation methods. Traditional cost-benefit analysis may not effectively address value-added, system perspective, and various uncertainties involved in ITS development and deployment. Two extensions of cost-benefit analysis are presented in this paper. The first extension tries to internalize positive externalities of ITS through productivity gain and economic surplus increase in an ITS region. The second extension incorporates system consideration into cost-benefit analysis by disaggregating direct gains from ITS into timesaving, increased interaction, and increased land-use activities. Next, an alternative cognitive approach is also introduced to represent the group priorities and the corresponding degree of uncertainty and consensus among group members with different levels of experiences and expertise within a new field such as ITS.