SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, and ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS of ELEVATED, DEPRESSED, and at -GRADE LEVEL FREEWAYS in TEXAS by Jesse L
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. FHWAJTX -97/1327-6F 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF ELEVATED, November 1997 DEPRESSED, AND AT-GRADE LEVEL FREEWAYS IN TEXAS 6. Perfonning Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Perfonning Organization Report No. Jesse L. Buffmgton, Sharada R. Vadali, Katie N. Womack, Richard A. Zimmer, Research Report 1327-6F Wayne G. McCully, Michael Nikolaou, and Carol A. Lewis 9. Perfonning Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Texas Transportation Institute The Texas A&M University System II. Contract or Grant No. College Station, Texas 77843-3135 Study No. 0-1327 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Texas Department of Transportation Final: Research and Technology Transfer Office September 1992 - August 1996 P.O. Box 5080 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Austin, Texas 78763-5080 15. Supplementary Notes Research performed in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation and the U.s. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Research Study Title: Social, Economic, and Environmental Effects of Elevated and Depressed Freeways 16. Abstract To answer questions being raised by abutting residents and businesses about proposed elevated and/or depressed freeway improvements in the urban and suburban areas of Texas, a four year study has been conducted to estimate the social, economic, and environmental effects of such freeway designs. Eight existing, two under constnlction, and one approved for constnlction freeway sections have been studied on a before, during, and after constnlction basis. The sections selected for study range from being in predominately residential-suburban areas to predominantly commercial-industrial downtown areas. The specific effects of the three types estimated for each study section are as follows: (1) social impacts: popUlation changes, neighborhood accessibility, neighborhood cohesion, and community services; (2) economic impacts: relocation and mitigation costs, business sales, property uses and values, tax revenues, employment and income, and user costs; and (3) environmental impacts: aesthetics, drainage and erosion, noise and air pollution, vibration, and hazardous spills. The literature review and a survey of highway agencies in other states were used to determine the appropriate procedures or models and mitigation measures to implement in estimating the social, economic, and environmental impacts of elevated and depressed freeways. Appropriate study site, local, state, and federal agency data were collected, reduced, and analyzed in the conduct of this study. The fmdings of the study, presented in five separate reports according to types of effect and summarized in this report, can be used with the recommended estimating procedures to estimate the social, economic, and environmental effects of proposed elevated and depressed freeway projects in urban and suburban areas. Then, transportation planning and designing engineers can use such estimates to prepare environmental statements and conduct public hearings on the recommended grade level of each of the proposed freeway projects. The fmdings from prior studies indicate that freeway grade level differences in selected measures of social and economic activity are statistically significant. However, these differences are negative or positive, depending largely on various locational factors. The results of this study tend to confirm those fmdings. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Traffic, Grade Level, Elevated, Depressed, At-Grade, No restrictions. This document is available to the public Combination or Double Deck, Social, Economic, through NTIS: Environmental, Impacts, Effects, Distance, Abutting and Non National Technical Information Service Abutting, "Before and After," Literature Review, Surveys, 5285 Port Royal Road Questionnaires, Freeways, Study Sections, Mitigation, Walls Springfield, Virginia 22161 and Barriers, Businesses, Gross Sales, Residents, Opinions, Constnlction Costs, Right-of-Way Costs, Aesthetics, Land Values, Land Uses, Zoning Ordinances, Noise and Air Pollution, City, Urban, Suburban. 19. Security Classif.(ofthis report) 20. Security Classif.(ofthis page) I 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 86 Fonn DOT F 1700.7 (8·72) Reproduction of completed page authOrized SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF ELEVATED, DEPRESSED, AND AT -GRADE LEVEL FREEWAYS IN TEXAS by Jesse L. Buffington Research Economist Texas Transportation Institute Sharada R. Vadali Assistant Research Economist Texas Transportation Institute Katie N. Womack Research Sociologist Texas Transportation Institute Richard A. Zimmer Research Specialist Texas Transportation Institute Wayne G. McCully Research Scientist Texas Transportation Institute Michael Nikolaou Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Texas A&M University and Carol A. Lewis Director of Transportation Research Texas Southern University Research Report 1327-6F Research Study Number 0-1327 Research Study Title: Social, Economic, and Environmental Effects of Elevated and Depressed Freeways Sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation In Cooperation with U. S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration November 1997 TEXAS TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE The Texas A & M University System College Station, Texas 77843-3135 ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors want to thank Mr. Jon Underwood, Director, Research and Technology Transfer Office, and staff members Lana Ashley and Klaus Alkier for assistance in handling TxDOT administrative matters pertaining to the study. Special thanks are given to the TxDOT technical panel members, Joe B. Thompson, Project Director, Melissa Neeley, Peggy D. Thurin and John P. Kelly, Origin Project Director, for providing oversight and direction to the study. The research team is especially appreciative of the many TxDOT district personnel for their help in the selection of study sections and responding to various data request during the life of this study. These personnel are named by their respective districts or organizations as follows: Dallas District: Richard H. Rawles, Jr., Former Director of Construction; Gary W. Taylor, Project Manager of North Central Project Office; and Terry L. May, District Right-of-way Engineer. Houston District: Hans C. Olavson, Director of District Transportation Planning; Dennis W. Warren, Director of Construction; and Thomas N. Lou, Assistant to Director of Transportation and Planning. Harris County Toll Road Authority: Wesley E. Freise, Executive Director. Lubbock District: Carl R. Utley, District Engineer; V. O. Chetty, Former Deputy District Engineer; John E. Rantz, Director of Operations and Construction; Steven P. Warren, Director of Transportation Planning and Development; Ted Copeland, Traffic Engineer; Mike Craig, Assistant District Design Engineer; Davis Melton, Environmental Coordinator; and Claude C. Kneisley, Right-of-way Supervisor. San Antonio: John P. Kelly, District Engineer; Julie Brown, Director of Transportation Planning and Development; Mary T. Richards, Environmental Coordinator; Gilbert G. Gavia, v District Design Engineer; Felix A. Lemra, District Design Section; and Herbie L. Belvin, District Right-of-way Administrator. The authors also wish to acknowledge the Federal Highway Administration for providing ftmding and technical support for the study. Other members of the Texas Transportation Institute gave valuable assistance to the study. Dr. W.F. McFarland, Research Economist and Head of the Transportation Economics Program, gave administrative support. Thanks are due Mr. Alan G. Nelson, Student Worker, for his hard work in data entry and reduction and Mrs. Cheryl Kruse, Secretary for the Transportation Economics Program, who took care of much of the paperwork for the study and also assisted with the data entry. Thanks are due Diana G. Wallace, Assistant Research Specialist; Stephen E. Ranft, Research Associate; Darrell W. Borchardt, Associate Research Engineer; and Paul A. Hawkins, Assistant Research Scientist, for their help in collecting all of the traffic data needed for this study. Thanks are due Ms. Linda Pedro and Mr. Mack Lindsey of the Research Division of The Texas State Comptroller's Office for their help in furnishing business gross sales and state sales tax data needed for this study. Thanks are due the officials of the Dallas, Harris, Bexar, and Lubbock County Appraisal Districts for furnishing appraised values of abutting properties for the study sections in their respective counties. Last, thanks are due all of the cooperating businesses and residents who furnished survey data. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ............................................................ x SUMMARY . .. xvii INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1 STUDY PROBLEM STATEMENT ......................................... 1 STUDY OBJECTIVES ................................................... 2 SELECTION OF FREEWAY STUDY SECTIONS ............................. 2 LOCATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDY FREEWAY SECTIONS ...... 3 REPORTS OF FINDINGS ............................................... 11 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK. ............................................... 13 LITERATURE REVIEW FINDINGS ....................................... 13 Social