An Empirical Analysis of Transportation Infrastructure Feasibility Study Considerations
Findings revealed that traffic data and infrastructure development master plans were the main sources of data referred to during feasibility studies. The criteria factors considered include user safety, local conditions and physical condition of infrastru
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Introduction
Transportation infrastructure impacts on the growth of an economy through employment creation and therefore enhances economic development and provision of social services (Chen and Cruz 2012). Achieving C. S. Okoro (*) Finance and Investment Management Department, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] I. Musonda Construction Management and Quantity Surveying Department, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] J. N. Agumba Department of Building Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 E. G. Popkova et al. (eds.), Supporting Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in Africa - Volume II, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41983-7_8
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successful and sustainable operations throughout the life span of transport infrastructure should therefore be the focus in transport project planning and development (Glaister et al. 2010). However, transportation infrastructure is fraught with uncertainties, which if not taken cognizance of at the time of planning, may threaten the sustainability of the projects. According to Merrow (2011) and Mišić and Radujković (2015), the proportion of mega infrastructure project failure, globally, is as high as 66%, with cost overruns of over 50%, and a significant proportion of these projects fail to meet the objectives for which they were constructed in the first instance. This suggests that the factors considered at the initiation and conception of projects influences its performance during the operational stage. Therefore, if huge discrepancies between expected and actual outcomes occur, the magnitude of inherent risks and uncertainties which materialise at the operational stage is unplanned for, and the result can be a project failure. The quality of feasibility studies therefore appears to be a critical factor to the sustainability of transportation infrastructure projects. However, although studies had been conducted on the factors which should be considered in feasibility studies to ensure good quality outcomes (Hyari and Kandil 2009; Nicolaisen et al. 2012; Flyvbjerg 2014), the relative importance of these factors have not been determined. It is therefore not clear which factors are most critical to the outcome of feasibility studies. Understanding the critical factors will assist in developing a comprehensive feasibility study. The objective of the current study was therefore to establish critical factors that should be considered in feasibility studies.
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ransportation Infrastructure Feasibility T Study Considerations
Feasibility studies include all elements that may impact on a project’s performance. These include finance availability and procurement strategies (Glaister et al. 2010), local environment (Rudžianskaitė-Kvaraciejienė et al. 2015), institutional support (Quium 2014) and users’ needs (Erlich
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