Journal on Policy & Complex Systems Volume 3, Issue 2 | Page 61

Policy and Complex Systems
3 . Empirical Methodology for Eliciting Observed Patterns of Roadway Project Prioritization and Funding Allocations

In addition to the analysis of legal

documents , a series of in-depth interviews and two focus groups with multiple stakeholders , including local government officials , metropolitan planning organization ( MPO ) staff and board members , staff of other RPCs in Vermont , state department of transportation ( VTrans ) officials , Federal Highway Association ( FHWA ) representatives , and US DOT officials , federal and state senator office representatives , and local NGOs were conducted in the fall of 2010 and 2012 . The focus groups and interviews were recorded , transcribed , coded , and analyzed for major and minor themes . To understand how projects were prioritized , various source documents related to project funding were examined , including major pieces of federal legislation ( ISTEA ; SAFTE- LU ; etc .), planning and policy documents developed by the SDOT and the MPO , meeting minutes , and project databases .
The project prioritization data for all transportation projects in the state between 1998 and 2011 were obtained and analyzed to derive probability distribution functions for variables of interest , as explained below . The data included the classes of project , the scoring data from the SDOT and the MPO , the location of the project , and the amount of funds that went into the project .
Table 1 below shows descriptive statistics for roadway project prioritization scores from 2007 to 2010 that were derived from VTrans project prioritization data . Note that these scores were not available prior to 2006 , however , as per focus groups ; these scores reflect the implicit weightings on decision criteria practiced by the state agencies and RPCs in prioritizing transportation infrastructure projects . In general , about 61 ( median value ) roadway projects are funded in a given year . On a 100-point scale , the expected value of these projects averages ~ 50 +/ -15%.
Projects with a higher expected value are ranked higher and prioritized for funding in a given year subject to the availability of funding and approval by Vermont ’ s legislature and federal agencies responsible for each federal program .
Table 1 . V-Trans scores for roadway projects from 2007 to 2011 : descriptive statistics
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