Many British local authorities have, since the mid- 1970s developed priority assessment techniques (PATs) as tools for determining priorities between highway schemes. They differ widely in structure, complexity, type of information required, cost band of schemes to which they are applied, and role in the planning process. The Institute for Transport Studies has been engaged on a project. The Institute for Transport Studies has been engaged on a project, to investigate the types of technique in use, to assess the implications of any assumptions they involve, and to study ways of streamlining their application. Six representative examples were selected and tested on a common set of six highway schemes reflecting a range of impacts and costs. This paper outlines thecharacteristics of the PATs, reports on the comparative analysis of the sample, and discusses the implications of this exercise for future development of such techniques.
Abstract