ANALYSIS OF TECHNO-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF ALTERNATE HIGHWAY

Abstract

Techno-economic feasibility of one of the alternate route of Muzaffarnagar-Delhi corridor is carried out in this work. A stretch of 60 Kms. of single lane road from Muzaffarnagar to Baraut is upgraded to the two-lane road. The elements considered in the analysis are the speed-volume relationship and the saving in users cost due to such improvement. Discriminant analysis carried out on two similar roads of the two alternate routes showed that there exists relationship between speed and volume on the roads. Relationship between speed and volume could establish the saving in travel time with the proposed improvement. The saving in journy time on the improved stretch of road in turn reveals the saving in passengers travel time, crew time and fixed cost of vehicles. In view of controversy of productive and non-productive use of time saved, the value of passengers time saved is taken as 50% of the reported value. Net present value method of economic analysis is used in this work to establish the economic viability of the proposed improvement. On the expenditure side the cost of construction and annual maintenance cost is considered. While the benefits are in terms of passengers time cost, crew time cost and the fixed cost of vehicles. As expected value of travel time saving is the single most important factor in the economic appraisal of highway improvement. Finally it is concluded that the proposed scheme is economically productive within two years of its implementation.