The study's first two ongoing research workshops in October and November were well-attended by faculty, students and practitioners interested in the costs of the transportation system and in the characteristics of system travel demand.

David Anderson, CTS research associate, presented "Tools for Analyzing the Full Costs of Transportation Projects in the Twin Cities Region" at the first workshop on October 1. Because transportation has significant costs and benefits for the region and its residents, it is important to quantify them with good data specific to this metropolitan area. According to Anderson, we should then be able to use this cost accounting system to predict whether changes in policy might increase the benefits of the transportation system while holding down its costs.

Three main categories of costs have been identified in this first phase of research: public spending is the cost of goods and services paid for by governments (roads and highways); internal costs are goods and services whose costs are borne by the person who causes them (vehicle depreciation); and external costs are goods and services which affect others outside of markets (air pollution). Anderson has identified various costs in each category which will then be quantified based on the availability of data for the region. This information will then be used to calculate the average and marginal social costs for today and for 2020.

Work on this phase should be completed by early 1999 and will be followed by an investigation of who bears the costs of our region's transportation system.

"Developing Tools for Understanding Local Travel Behavior" was the presentation given on November 5 by Gary Barnes, CTS research associate. The focus of this talk was on the complexity of travel behavior and the resultant difficulty in knowing what policies are likely to be effective at solving problems. Travel has many dimensions such as purpose, location, and demographics, and these details are important to making good policy. For example, some aspects of individual behavior are much more constant (and hence likely less responsive to policy) than the recent large aggregate changes in trips and miles traveled might imply.

Barnes' conclusion was that our ability to forecast the outcomes of policy experiments is hampered by our lack of sufficiently detailed knowledge of the different dimensions of travel behavior and how they interrelate. In particular, we have very little specific knowledge of the role that geography and land use play in travel demand. Thus this phase, which will be finished in early 1999, will be followed by a detailed study of Twin Cities travel patterns, with a special focus on the impact of geography and land use.

Road Pricing Is Topic of December Workshop

The study's December research workshop will feature a special guest presentation by John T. Berg of the FHWA. Berg will describe the FHWA's experience in trying to stimulate interest in, and experimentation with, congestion pricing concepts. He will present an overview of local projects supported through the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program, characterize the lessons learned from these early projects, and look at the future of federal support for pricing under the new Value Pricing Pilot Program, which Berg manages.

A number of congestion pricing projects have been launched under the auspices of the Pilot Program involving either the use of pricing to sell access to express lanes or the use of variable tolls on bridges. Projects like these have been examined in a number of cities in the United States, including I-394 in Minneapolis.

Berg also manages a program of studies to evaluate issues related to the FHWA's highway revenue program, including analysis of tax policy issues and emerging highway finance strategies; and develops policy and legislative initiatives related to highway financing and user fees, congestion management, pricing, air quality, energy, and alternative fuels.

For more information call Mindy Jones, 612-625-1813.

The workshops present ongoing research about topics related to the Transportation and Regional Growth Study. They are designed both to familiarize faculty, students, and practitioners with the research topics and methodologies, and to provide feedback to the presenters. No registration is required.