Case Study:

Portland, Oregon

Application

User Benefits

The results in Table 2 show the aggregate direct user benefits in 2020 for each alternative.

An example for one commodity group, wood products, and one alternative, "Hot Spots," illustrates the component parts of the benefits. Truck operators carrying wood products in the Hot Spots alternative experience over 58 percent ($617 thousand) of the total user benefit for all eight categories of heavy truck user benefits; 41 percent of all truck (heavy and medium) benefits; and two percent of total benefits (including HOV and SOV). Of the total annual user benefits of $617 thousand, in-vehicle travel time savings of $505 thousand account for 82 percent.

Overall user benefits to truck traffic in this analysis were on the order of 10 percent of user benefits to automobile traffic. In this corridor, therefore, freight benefits make up a minor but still significant portion of total benefits. The proportion of benefits accruing to freight traffic will vary significantly among corridors or regions, depending upon the amount of truck traffic locally.

Table 2.
Annual Auto & Truck User Benefits¹ for Each Alternative in 2020
(Thousands of 1995 Dollars)

Commodity/Vehicle Category	Hot Spots²	CRC³	Freeway Capacity⁴	Freight Freeway⁵	Freight Arterial⁶
H1: Farm products	$114	$271	$560	$349	$318
H2: Minerals	$28	$61	$118	$85	$112
H3: Stone and waste products	$131	$286	$569	$374	$388
H4: Wood products	$617	$1,731	$4,150	$2,305	$1,869
H5: Metal products	$22	$63	$147	$84	$72
H6: Machinery & elect. equip.	$9	$54	$134	$74	$69
H7: Transportation equipment	$27	$67	$151	$89	$81
H8: Chemicals and petroleum	$102	$267	$603	$365	$372
Medium truck, non-freight	$141	$385	$871	$496	$403
Medium truck, freight	$308	$620	$1,347	$778	$584
HOV	$5,058	$8,085	$14,605	$9,765	$8,679
SOV	$23,455	$28,881	$56,534	$48,184	$26,210
Total benefits	$30,011	$40,770	$79,790	$62,949	$39,157
Truck subtotal⁷	$1,498	$3,805	$8,650	$5,000	$4,268
Heavy truck subtotal⁸	$1,050	$2,799	$6,433	$3,726	$3,281
Auto subtotal (SOV + HOV)	$28,513	$36,966	$71,139	$57,949	$34,889

¹ Benefits here connote the difference between each alternative and the Base Case (No-Build) Alternative. All alternatives include a set of about 40 planned, but not funded, regional transportation improvements.
² "Hot Spots" includes capacity expansion at I-5 bottlenecks, an LRT extension, and interchange improvements .
³ Hot Spots + additional Columbia River Crossing (CRC) lanes.
⁴ Hot Spots + CRC + reversible express lanes on CRC + additional lanes on I-5 + LRT to Vancouver .
⁵ Hot Spots + CRC + new truck-only ramps.
⁶ Hot Spots + new freight bridge (port-to-port) .
⁷ Includes all eight categories of heavy trucks and the two categories of medium trucks.
⁸ Includes only the eight categories of heavy trucks.

Source: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

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