This page provides access to several papers on the topic of least-cost transportation planning. They were developed in the mid-1990s by Dick Nelson and Don Shakow with support from several sources. Their content is of methodological interest but also includes public policy analyses and specific recommendations regarding future transportation investments in the central Puget Sound region of the State of Washington.
The title of each of the papers is given below, with hot links to those on-line.
Sustainable Transportation Through an Integrated Planning Process: Submitted for publication in the Proceedingsof the OCED Conference: Toward Sustainable Transportation, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, March 24-27, 1996
Least-Cost Planning: A Tool for Metropolitan Decision-Making, Transportation Research Record, #1499, National Academy of Sciences/Engineering, Washington, D.C., 1995
A Cost-Effective Strategy for Puget Sound Regional Transportation: Presented to the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, Institute for Washington's Future, September, 1995
Results of an Economic Analysis of the Regional Transit Authority's Proposed Rail System, Institute for Transportation and the Environment, March, 1995
Applying Least-Cost Planning to Puget Sound Regional Transportation: Phase I report, Development of the Conceptual Model for a Least-Cost Transportation Planning Process, Institute for Transportation and the Environment, February, 1994 (Executive Summary and Table of Contents only - with ordering instructions)
Development of a Prototype Least-Cost Planning Model and Its Initial Application to the Puget Sound Region: Phase II report, December, 1994 (Executive Summary and Table of Contents only - with ordering instructions)
A Critical Comparison of Planning Methods for Metropolitan Transportation Decision-making
Last modified: February 07, 2011