Transportation Planning Benefit-Cost Analysis

In a project business case, capital improvement options are evaluated using the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's Multiple Account Evaluation (MAE) framework. Benefit cost analysis is a critical part of MAE, and requires the estimation and comparison of the present value of road user benefits to the present value of agency costs.

Guidelines

• Benefit Cost Analysis Guidebook (PDF - August 2014)
  Guidelines for the benefit cost analysis of highway improvement projects in British Columbia. Also discusses the Transportation Investment Plan, Business Cases, and Multiple Account Evaluation providing context for benefit cost analysis.

• Default Values for Benefit Cost Analysis (PDF, 1MB - May 2018)
  Describes the default values that should be used for benefit cost analysis of highway improvement projects in British Columbia.

Tools

• ShortBEN – High Level Benefit Cost Tool (XLSX - April 2019)
• Safety BenCost (XLSX - May 2018)
  A tool for the benefit cost analysis of the safety benefits of highway improvements, based on the following ministry documents
  • Collision Prediction Models for B.C. (PDF, 12MB)
  • Collision Modification Factors for B.C. (PDF)
• Highway Safety Modeling - Worked Example (PPT, 8.6MB - July 2012)
  This PowerPoint presentation provides a worked example of many of the steps in Safety-BenCost. The worked example is also solved in the original version of Safety-BenCost, so the spreadsheet tool and the PowerPoint presentation can be used together to develop a better understanding of the basic steps and the tool, before applying the tool to new projects.