Transportation System and Project Evaluation

Transportation System and Project Evaluation

Running Head : TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND PROJCET EVALUATION

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND PROJECT EVALUATION

In APA Style (name (university

Transportation System and Project Evaluation

Introduction

In 1962 , the Federal-Aid Highway Act created the federal mandate for Urban Transportation Planning (UTP ) in the United States . Combined with the incentive of 90 percent federal funding for interstate highway projects , the Act causes UTP to spread quickly through United States Some parts of UTP had evolved over the years because of changing issues condition , values and greater understanding or

urban transportation phenomena . It is now more sophisticated , complex , and costly than its highway planning predecessor and involves more participants in the process (Weiner , 1997 . Furthermore , the systematic evaluation increasingly sought to guide operations in to assure legislators and planners that they are proceeding on sound lines and to have public justification (Cronbach , 1980

As the issue of increasing UTP complexity spreads , also the issue of UTP and Transportation System Evaluation . According to Michael Meyers (2001 in his book 'Urban Transportation Planning , there is an inseparable connection between transportation systems , land use , and social and political systems . There are various models of Urban Transportation Plan , all with their own strengths and weaknesses , describing connections between the factors . However , we will not elaborate on those models and their merits . Within this , we will discuss the framework of evaluating an urban transportation system and urban transportation system plans . I will use the book as well as several other journal and publications regarding UTP in to describe the workings of a transportation system evaluation

In to have the proper understanding of the issue being discussed we will begin by elaborating the meaning of evaluation and their purposes . The main focus of the is the transportation system evaluation frameworks . Nevertheless , in the final chapters , there will be discussion of evaluating a transportation plan in urban areas and there will be examples of several practices of transportation systems evaluation in United States

What is Evaluation

Evaluation is a systematic inquiry designed to provide information to decision-makers and other parties interested in a particular program or policy . Some describe the term by comparing it with research methodology . The major difference between evaluation and research methodology is the fact that research is a way of describing `how things works , while evaluation is a way of describing `how well things works In a sense , evaluation is more interested in the quality of a process instead of the detailed mechanism of the process itself (`What is Evaluation , n .d . According to the Maricopa Community Colleges (2001 the primary focus of evaluation is to determine the effectiveness of a program , in the light of the attainment of pre-set priorities or goals It helps document whether a program is accomplishing its goals or not

There are two kinds of evaluation , formative and summative . A formative evaluation program is the type of evaluation designed to produce assessment about an ongoing project . Its purpose is to revise previously determined...