16. Step Three:
Determine What You Can Measure
• Recreation Benefits • Air Quality (CO2, NOx, VOC)
• Health Care Cost • Carbon Sequestration
Savings • Ecosystem Services
• Vehicle Operating Cost • Clean Water
Savings • Property Tax
• Crash Risk Reduction
• Property Value
Premiums
17. Step Four: Have Fun With Numbers
• Most benefits are derived from the number of individuals
who can be expected to use the trails in some form –
cyclists, hikers, runners, walkers, general recreational users,
and commuters
• User counts are predicated on population proximity to the
park/trail system with 1.5 miles being the limit of influence
• Using population counts
within 1.5 miles on either
side of the park/trail created
a 3 mile‐wide band
overlaying the entire system
18. Oh… Here Are Our Sources. Mostly.
• User predictions, the key to estimating impact and benefits,
are based on work developed in cooperation with the
Federal Highway Administration
• Assumptions and methodologies have been reviewed and
discussed with experts at Rice University, Texas A&M,
Baylor College of Medicine, Harris County Flood Control,
and Houston‐Galveston Area Council (H‐GAC)
• Data provided by H‐GAC, Trust for Public Lands, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, U.S. Census Bureau, Texas
Transportation Institute, League of American Bicyclists,
Houston Parks Board
19. Major Metro Case Study
The Houston Parks Board’s
Bayou Greenway Initiative
300 Miles of Trails for $490 Million
24. Okay, What’s the ROI on
Bayou Greenway
Take $124,347,400 (Annual Benefits Estimate), divide
that by $490,000,000 (Estimated Cost to Build 300
Miles of Trails) and you get an annual ROI of .25.
Said another way, the projected benefits flowing
from the project will exceed construction costs in 4
years.
29. Option 4 Numbers
Four separate trail alignments were considered. The following
recaps the results for one of the scenarios, Option 4.
Recreation Benefits $ 4,797,340
Health Benefits $ 1,056,251
Vehicle Operating Cost Savings / Congestion Relief $ 195,497
Crash Reduction $ 14,506
Air Quality: VOC, Nox, CO2 $ 7,280
Carbon Sequestration $ 5,794
EcoSystem Services $ 0
Clean Water $ 0
Property Value $ 2,366,004
Estimated Annual Total (Moderate) $10,306,465
Total Number of Individuals Living Within 1.5 Mile Buffers: 138,421
33. Bayou Watershed Numbers
The following projections are preliminary. Additional research
is being done to establish trail usage patterns, and assess the
impact of replanting native vegetation along the corridor.
Recreation Benefits $ 4,299,411
Health Benefits $ 947,631
Vehicle Operating Cost Savings / Congestion Relief $ 162,272
Crash Reduction $ 12,040
Air Quality: VOC, NOx, CO2 $ 6,043
Carbon Sequestration $ 554
EcoSystem Services $ 1,251,434
Clean Water $ 23,440
Property Value $ 2,184,017
Estimated Annual Total (Moderate) $ 8,967,892
Total Number of Individuals Living Within 1.5 Mile Buffers: 119,974