Revised Highway Economic Evaluation Model (HEEM-II)
Author(s):
J.L. Memmott, J.L. Buffington
Publication Date:
November 1983
Abstract:
The shortage of construction funds and increased traffic congestion in the urban areas of Texas have caused the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation (DHT) to concentrate on upgrading and increasing the capacity of existing highways and freeways. In an effort to select those highway improvements that maximize future public benefits, the DHT is using the Highway Economic Evaluation Model (HEEM), developed in 1975-76 by the McKinsey and Company, Inc. of Dallas.|The HEEM, which is a computerized model, calculates a benefit/cost ration and a measure of mobility (average speed) for each proposed highway improvement. However, almost since implementation, questions have been raised about the HEEM's assumptions and its limitations to evaluate certain types of highway improvements, particularly high occupancy vehicle (HOV) projects.|The report contains the results of a study to revise the HEEM program to evaluate HOV projects and make other improvements in the program. It can also serve as the combined user's guide and programmer's supplement for the revised HEEM, now called HEEM-II. The revised program (HEEM-II) can evaluate 29 more highway types (improvements), including HOV types, than the original HEEM. It also can allocate traffic to different routes in a corridor segment on a minimum user cost basis. Also, it uses updated unit costs and assumed values, a different time horizon for calculating the benefit/cost ratio, two corridor traffic projections to determine the shape of the traffic growth curve, and corrected specification table values. Last, the tabular and graphic output format is more informative.|This report explains HEEM-II's inputs, calculations, and outputs and includes its program, written in ANSI 77 FORTRAN IV.
Report Number:
225-28F
Electronic Link(s):
Document/Product
http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/225-28F.pdf
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