The Mission
The mission of the Center is to enhance the capability to provide economic-based analyses in formulating transportation policies and programs for all transportation modes through the following four major objectives:
- Assist the USDOT by providing the economic analysis capabilities needed to address complex transportation issues.
- Conduct transportation economics research to address critical transportation problems, policies and projects.
- Advance the state-of-the-practice by providing training, workshops, symposia and web-based seminars.
- Facilitate the sharing of information and best practices through visiting scholars, electronic newsletters, a website, email and other communication techniques.
Texas Transportation Institute Transportation Economics Center
Center established by the USDOT
Through a competitve procurement, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Office of Transportation Policy, selected the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to lead the Transportation Economics Center (TEC).
Partners
Training/Education: one of TTI’s most important missions
One of TTI’s most important missions is to support the training and education of undergraduate and graduate students in the transportation field. In addition to participation by TTI researchers, the TEC includes:
- faculty involvement from the Department of Agricultural Economics in the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and
- faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M.
Other academic and research entities will also be involved with the Center. In addition, the TEC will provide support and valuable practical experience to students working on transportation research projects in the area of transportation economics.
Initial Project
Benefit/Cost Analysis for Transportation Infrastructure
There is growing emphasis on the use of benefit/cost analysis for evaluating transportation projects funded by discretionary federal transportation programs. The first activity of the TEC was assisting the USDOT with the Benefit/Cost Analysis for Transportation Infrastructure: A Practitioner’s Workshop on May 17, 2010. This workshop was an introduction to this concept.
View and download the workshop resources:
- Agenda and presentation links
- Video recorded of the workshop (from the USDOT site)
The TEC website Workshops/Conferences section.
