NTRAC Final Study - Nebraska Department of Roads - State of ...

CHAPTER 8 – FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION
primary aspects of land use, i.e. existing land use patterns, plans and policies, and expected
impacts.
Existing Land Use
Transit Supportive Plans and Policies:
o "Growth Management"
o Transit supportive corridor policies
o Supportive zoning regulations near transit stations; and
o Tools to implement land use policies.
Performance and Expected Impacts of Policies:
o Performance of land use policies; and
o Potential impact of transit project on regional land use.
Due to the limited resources available for this study, this analysis cannot be carried out and
would best be deferred to later stages of project development and analysis.
Mobility Improvements
The measures used to evaluate this criterion include travel times savings, number of low-income
households within a ½-mile of station boarding areas, and the number of jobs within walk access
of destination stations. Travel time savings are calculated by examining regional travel demand
model output. Because a regional model was not used for this feasibility study, these data are
not available for comparison. Similarly, the number of low-income households within a ½-mile
of station boarding areas was not determined due to limited resources for this study. The
commuter rail and express bus options with terminals in the central business districts of Lincoln
and Omaha have excellent walk access and with connecting transit services excellent transit
access to nearly all the major employers in each city. The added choice of a reliable transit
option for travel between the two cities is a significant benefit.
ECONOMIC EVALUATION
The purpose the economic evaluation is to describe the potential traveler safety, traveler cost,
and congestion cost impacts of diverting passenger car traffic from Nebraska highways to
commuter rail and bus alternatives in three corridors.
In Chapter 2, the potential ridership was identified for the rail and bus options. These estimates
were key inputs for Chapter 5, the commuter rail operating plan, and Chapter 6, the express bus
plans. Ridership for the planned start year of 2010 was expressed in terms of a range. For the
purpose of this evaluation, the ridership which Scenarios A, B, and C would generate represent
trips that would otherwise be taken by car. Thus, ridership is reflective of passenger car traffic
that the transit options would divert to rail and/or express bus. If these passengers do not travel
by train or bus, they will travel by automobile.
A reasonable estimate of the average commuter vehicle occupancy rate is 1.1 persons per
vehicle. Thus, for example, a high-side annual ridership of 187,000 train riders in the Lincoln-
Omaha corridor (exclusive of special event riders) would divert about 670 cars per day off I-80
in 2010.
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NEBRASKA TRANSIT CORRIDORS STUDY
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WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES