Models developed for the economic evaluation of road projects are generally based on the costs and advantages related to the traffic. Usually, these models aren't adapted to cases of roads with low intensity traffics. In order to consider a wide range of benefits induced by other economic functions of the road, the Moroccan Road Directorate has developed an economic evaluation model for the low level traffics roads.uThe specific feature of the model implemented is that, in evaluating the economic return of road projects, it includes not only the standard benefits derived from this type of project, such as reduced costs and transport time, but also the benefits stemming from the economic development of the area in witch the project is located. The latter, which are known as "exogenous benefits" mainly, concern the developments in agriculture and tourism. Sub-model to assess these exogenous benefits specifically were developed as part of the study. The direct benefits (known as endogenous benefits) were quantified using the HDM-4 model which is a software program for assessing the economic return of maintenance policy and road projects. The specific feature of this program is that it models the relationship between traffic intensity, pavement deterioration and traffic conditions in terms of both time and cost. All the data resulting from the modelling process described above, was then consolidated in order to calculate the indicators for assessing the economic project aspects. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
Samenvatting