The research conducted under this project demonstrated the functionality of the StratBENCOST model and refined and extended the capabilities of the StratBENCOST software.

Planning, evaluating, selecting and financing highway investments requires (1) an understanding of fundamental empirical relationships between the physical and service characteristics of roadways and the associated user costs and (2) accurate measures of the economic costs associated with vehicle operating costs, accidents, emissions and travel time, each expressed as a function of highway conditions. NCHRP Project 2-18 systematically analyzed user cost factors using methods which provided means of assessing the quantitative significance of uncertainty and risk. It formulated models associated with the highway user cost analysis process based upon the current state-of-the-art and it identified the data and relationships associated with each. NCHRP Project 2-18(3) developed an innovative highway user cost estimation methodology based upon the approach used in NCHRP Project 2-18 and developed a beta version of the procedure and drafts of documents which provide user guidance and information about the database.

The final report is available on request from the NCHRP. NCHRP Research Results Digest 252 provides a summary of the project and of NCHRP Project 2-18(3). The StratBENCOST software and user's manual are available from the McTrans Center for Microcomputers in Transportation.