TPICS TIGER and US Experience : A Focus on Case-based Ex-post Economic Impact Assessment

This paper presents the results of research recently conducted by the authors on ex-post analysis focused on the long-term economic impacts of transportation system investments in the United States (US). For a variety of reasons, the US has had a tradition of making transport investments to address economic development goals and applying ex-post analysis to assess achievement of economic development impacts. These past studies are reviewed, as are some of the deficiencies and suggested improvements in methods for ex-post analysis. The paper also reviews methods to refine ex-post analysis of economic development in the US via the Transportation Impact Project Case Studies (TPICS) system developed as a national database of land and economic development impact studies. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for broader distribution and support for the tools and methods developed in TPICS, and an assessment of the challenges facing wider adoption and application of the ex-post analysis in the US context. Specific adoption and implementation issues and opportunities are addressed in the context of the US Department of Transportation’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) discretionary grant program.