Road Economic Decision Model

“This webpage contains links to download the Roads Economic Decision Model (RED) developed by the Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP), as well as a user guide, reference materials and useful links. RED performs an economic evaluation of road investments and maintenance alternatives and is customized to the characteristics of unpaved roads such as: a) high uncertainty of the assessment of traffic, road condition, and future maintenance; b) periods during a year with disrupted passability; c) levels of service and corresponding road user costs defined not only through roughness; d) high potential to influence economic development; and e) beneficiaries other than motorised road users. RED is a consumer surplus model designed to help evaluate investments in low volume roads. The model is implemented in a series of Excel workbooks that: a) collect all user inputs; b) present the results in a user-friendly manner; c) estimate vehicle operating costs and speeds; d) perform an economic comparison of investments and maintenance alternatives; and e) perform sensitivity, switch-off values and stochastic risk analyses. The model computes benefits accruing to normal, generated, and diverted traffic, as a function of a reduction in vehicle operating and time costs. It also computes safety benefits, and model users can add other benefits (or costs) to the analysis, such as those related to non-motorised traffic, social service delivery and environmental impacts.”

Road Economic Decision Model