Appraisal of the Value of the Travel Time-saving Effect for a Regional Economy as an Implication of a Large-scale Infrastructure Project in the Transport Sector

Abstract

The article's purpose is to appraise the savings in travel time as the most significant effect of implementing large-scale investment projects in the transport sector. The
article briefly outlines the essence of the Cost-Benefit Analysis methodology, which is widely used abroad to assess the economic efficiency of a project. A critical assessment is given of the domestic methodology for calculating the effect of saving travel time as a result of the construction of transport infrastructure facilities. The
factors influencing the value of time are analyzed, and the differences between the types (components) of future traffic flow that compose the total travel time are revealed. As an example, the assessment of the potentially saved time of passengers of the project of the bridge construction across the river Lena near the city of Yakutsk city, Yakutia (Sakha) Republic, Russia, is presented. The calculations have revealed that the time saved for the passengers, totals about 75.8 billion rubles for 2021–2044. The scale of this effect alone exceeds the project's costs, which indicates the economic viability of the implementation and governmental support of the project.