Sustainability benefits assessment in Urban transport project appraisal: A new method of transport project appraisal

Abstract

Transport project appraisal is an important tool in complex decision making. It helps in comparing options and prioritizing between competing choices. It can also influence the distribution of financial resources across various projects that are often executed from common sources of funding. Many important decisions taken during the development of a transport project critically rely upon estimates resulting from the project appraisal process. Most widely used appraisal methods are project based such as cost-benefit analysis (CBA), multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and environmental-impact assessment (EIA). For the appraisal of certain types of macro-level transport projects strategic appraisal methods like strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are also applied. Each of these methods has its own limitations and shortcomings which have not improved over time. In this position paper, we present a new methodological approach to transport project appraisal. This approach is based on a systematic assessment of sustainability benefits of a project, hence this approach is named Sustainability Benefits Assessment in Urban Transport Project Appraisal (SBA-UT). The approach has evolved from an in-depth review of the scientific literature about technical constructs and applications of various project appraisal methodologies used for transport project appraisal.