Research Project:

Roadway Alignments as Assets: Evaluating Alternatives for Valuing Major Highway Corridor Rights of Way

Principal Investigator

David J. Plazak
Iowa State University
(515) 294-8103
dplazak@iastate.edu

External Project Contact

Tom Welch
Iowa Department of Transportation
(515) 239-1267
Tom.Welch@dot.state.ia.us

Project Objective

To explore alternative means of valuing right-of-way. Alternatives could include book (original) value, current market value, replacement value, and valuation based upon the benefits that the right-of-way provides to motorists. The goal is to understand what these different approaches to valuation imply and to determine which one presents the best picture of the value of the assembled right-of-way. A secondary objective is to develop a valuation of the cost of allowing additional access points along the corridor.

Project Abstract

According the Federal Highway Administration, there are almost 4 billion linear miles of roads and streets in the United States, 3 billion of which are publicly managed. If one assumes an average of 40 feet for right-of-way width, this means there are around 625 billion square feet of public roadway rights-of-way with a potential book valuation of about $3.5 trillion, or $70 billion in an average-sized state. A series of short-sighted decisions about direct accesses, traffic signals, median breaks, or adjacent land development could to significantly diminish the value of such assets. The research approach will involve using available data from real estate assessment databases, Iowa DOT records, and highway benefit-cost models to develop alternative valuations for the corridor.

Task Descriptions, Milestone, and Dates

Establish a project advisory committee, May 2003
Literature review, May 2003
Obtain software and models, May 2003
Obtain consultant and DOT studies, May 2003
Update the GIS spatial database, June 2003
Develop set of access/corridor management scenarios, August 2003
Run the models of the alternative scenarios, August 2003
Develop graphics of alternative management scenarios and impact of additional driveway connections, September 2003
Develop alternative valuation methods, October 2003
Show how management changes affect values, October 2003
Conclusions about valuation methods, October 2003
Draft technical report, November 2003
Publish final report, December 2003
Technology transfer, December 2003

Student Involvement (e.g., Thesis, Assistantships, Paid Employment)

One Graduate Student

Relationship to Other Projects

This project will supplement and leverage another CTRE project being funded by the Iowa Department of Transportation in which substantial data will be collected for the US Highway 20 corridor between Dyersville and Dubuque, Iowa (about 25 miles in length.) At the present time two significant engineering and planning studies are underway in the corridor. These studies are considering everything from minor traffic signalization system changes to major changes in access management through the construction of interchanges, closure of at-grade accesses, and construction of alternative access ways. The Iowa DOT project will be synergistic with this project; one will provide necessary background and data for the other.

Technology Transfer Activities

A short article will be written for technology transfer purposes and could be published (at a minimum) in CTRE’s Technology News and/or CTRE En Route and MTC Asset newsletters. This topic also has strong potential to be presented at a number of national conferences, particularly the TRB National Access Management, which will next be held in Kansas City in 2004 and the Salt Lake City area in 2006. An abstract will be submitted for the Kansas City conference. Mr. Plazak is a member of the planning committee for the 2004 conference.

Potential Benefits of the Project

This project has implications for access management and corridor management programs that are now underway in Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas within this region. One constant difficulty faced by access management coordinators is an inability to explain the problem with adding more direct access commercial driveways to a highway corridor to local officials, businesspersons, and developers. This research should help to provide information to answer such questions. It also has implications for asset management implementation in all four states in the region.

Budget

$60,000 (one-year project)

TRB Keywords

Access management, roadway alignment, right of way, access point, driveway, depreciation, valuation, easement, GASB 34, asset management.