Prioritization of low-volume road projects considering project cost and network accessibility: An incremental benefit–cost analysis framework

Abstract

Due to insufficient funds to implement all candidate road infrastructure projects, there is a need to efficiently utilize available funds and select candidate projects that maximize performance criteria decision-makers. This paper proposes an incremental benefit–cost analysis (IBCA) framework to prioritize low-volume road (LVR) projects that maximize road network accessibility considering project cost and network accessibility requirements. The study results show that the accessibility benefits of road projects depend not only on their cost requirements but also on their spatial locations in the network that affect their network-level accessibility benefits per unit cost of investment. Additionally, the number of disrupted LVR links cannot fully determine the degree of change in network accessibility. The framework enables decision-makers to consider project cost requirements and the accessibility-related impacts of LVR projects, maximize economic benefits, and ensure the sustainability of the LVR network performance.