Priority ranking of highway improvement projects

Highway improvement investments constitute an important part of the total investments in the transportation sector. Yet, the numerous proposals have to be ranked in an order of priority. The General Directorate of Highways in Turkey calculates the benefit-cost ratio for every proposal separately and ranks them in a descending order of magnitude. This paper presents the results of a regression analysis between the benefit-cost ratio on the one hand and a number of carefully selected independent variables on the other. The purpose of the study is to minimize the considerable amount of time and labour spent by the General Directorate of Highways in such evaluations. The findings indicate that car traffic, construction cost per kilometer and length of improved highway are the most salient variables that affect the benefit-cost ratio under the conditions prevailing in Turkey.