Improved productivity is one of the goals for the deployment of ITS/Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) technologies. While conventional benefit-cost analyses can measure the benefits of getting to a manufacturer quicker, thereby reducing travel costs, they have not been able to measure the benefit of accessing more distant manufacturers. Nor have they been able to assess the impact of improved freight transportation for 'just-in-time' production. NAFTA is a tri-lateral agreement liberalizing market accessibility to member nations. This geographical consolidation of national economies portends significant changes to the spatial dimension of the transportation infrastructure. Being able to access new clients in more distant markets becomes as significant as getting to existing clients faster. Emerging ITS/CVO initiatives such as satellite navigation and communication technologies have the potential to reduce inventory logistics costs and facilitate greater market penetration for manufacturers throughout North America. In order to capture all of these benefits, future benefit-costs studies should be adapted to fully measure the benefits of Reduced Inventory Logistics Costs and Increased Accessibility and Agglomeration Effects. (A*)
Abstract