Economics and Financing

In response to a concern that road evaluation models utilised by Australian road authorities were yielding inconsistent and inaccurate estimates of road user benefits, Austroads surveyed and assessed evaluation models currently in use. Information recovered indicated significant variation in vehicle operating cost estimates in terms of both total operating costs and individual cost components. On this basis, recommendations were made to expand the range of models subject to detailed analysis, and increase the range of criteria used to test for commonality and variation. It is recommended that findings from this stage be translated into improved vehicle operating cost algorithms and that these be applied to ensure comparable outputs and improve accuracy of vehicle operating cost estimation.