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                Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Guide and Tool
**Description:**
        Benefit-Cost Analysis is critical to understanding the potential return on investment from potential projects and programs. The purpose of this guide is to assist transportation agencies in making consistent and sound investment decisions. The companion software tool is an Excel-based application that supports the implementation of the methods described and demonstrated in the guide. The target audience/users include transportation professionals such as traffic engineers, highway safety engineers, and planners conducting highway safety BCA for projects and programs. The guide and tool will help these users to quantify the costs, and direct and indirect safety-related benefits of project alternatives. Direct safety benefits include the expected change in crash frequency and severity. Indirect benefits include the operational and environmental benefits that result from a reduction in crashes (e.g., reduced delay, fuel use, and emissions). Readers of the guide will understand the methods, data requirements, and considerations associated with benefit-cost analysis. Examples demonstrate the application of the methods in various scenarios, including both site-specific and systemic projects with single or multiple countermeasures. The tool is intended for project-level analysis of single or multiple improvements at a given location. It can also support network-level economic analysis for projects that include multiple locations (e.g., systemic improvements).
    
          **Tool Type:**
        Application Guide
    
    
    
          **Owner Source:**
        federal
    
          **Sponsor/Owner:**
        Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
    
        **Published:**
      2018
    
        **Availability:**
      The application guide is free of charge at the following link: Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Guide

The companion software is free of charge at the following link: Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Tool

Related Tools

Crash Costs for Highway Safety Analysis: This **application guide** provides national crash unit costs for economic analysis. It describes the various sources of crash costs, critical considerations when modifying and applying crash unit costs, and procedures to update and adjust the crash costs over time and among the States.

Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Flyer: This **flyer** provides an overview of the Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Guide and Tool, including a general discussion of the benefits to conducting highway safety benefit-cost analysis.

Highway Safety Benefit Cost Analysis E-Learning Module: This **recorded webinar** provides an overview of the Highway Safety Benefit-Cost Analysis Guide and Tool. It follows the outline of the guide, describing the key principles of benefit-cost analysis. It also provides a demonstration of the tool.

Other Relevant Resources

Highway Safety Manual (HSM): This **application guide** provides a description of economic appraisal and how it relates to the overall roadway safety management process.

Illinois Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) Spreadsheet: This **software** provides a quantitative method for evaluating and comparing the cost-effectiveness of proposals for roadway improvements. This is an example of a state-developed tool for benefit-cost analysis.

Life-Cycle Cost Estimation Tool (LCCET) for Intersection Designs: This **software** provides a Microsoft Excel-based tool to compare life-cycle costs of alternative designs for new and existing intersections.

Ohio Economic Crash Analysis Tool (ECAT): This **software** provides a spreadsheet tool to support the application of the predictive methods contained in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), 1st edition. A benefit-cost analysis spreadsheet is included within the tool to compute the rate of return for contemplated strategies. This is an example of a state-developed tool for benefit-cost analysis. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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