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Entries tagged: Job Creation

What’s the economic impact?

Not surprisingly, that question has been a common theme and focus at this year’s massive Transportation Research Board meeting. And, up in Vermont, Alliance member organization Local Motion worked with a local consulting firm, Resource Systems Group Inc., to answer that question for the Green Mountain State.

On Tuesday afternoon, Beth Isler from RSG Inc. drew a crowd to her TRB presentation on the “Economic Impact of Walking and Biking in Vermont.” In conducting the study, Isler explained, she worked with the advocates at Local Motion to distribute more than 150 surveys to bicycle- and pedestrian-related businesses across the state. But that’s not all. She also tapped into data from the Vermont Agency of Transportation on road project expenditures, accessed statistics on visitor spending related to biking and walking events, utilized modeling from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute and correlated information from Walk Score with real estate sales.

The result? Even in a small state, where locals joke that summer lasts just two weeks, biking and walking provide a significant boost to the local economy. Among Isler’s findings:

• According to VTrans data, the construction and maintenance of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects and programs brought $17 million in funding to the state, resulting in more than 230 jobs and $10 million in wages associated with those jobs.

• Based on survey data, bicycle- and pedestrian-related businesses brought in more than $56 million in revenue, generating more than 1,000 jobs and $26 million in associated wages.

• Forty major events related to biking and walking attracted more than 16,000 participants who brought with them 45,000 additional family and friends. The result? $9.5 million in revenue and 160 jobs which resulted in $4.7 million in wages.

• Using models from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, RSG calculated that the vehicle miles avoided by the 68 million miles walked and 28 million miles biked resulted in as much as $85 million in consumer and public health savings.

• RSG also cross-referenced the closing prices on real estate with the Walk Score of those locations. On average, the property values of homes in walkable neighborhoods were $6,500 higher than those in car-dependent areas. Add all those homes together and walkability added more than $350 million to the local economy.

Bottom line: In 2009, biking and walking created at least 1,400 jobs, $41 million in personal income (wages) and $83 million in revenue. In addition, the health and property value benefits could bump that up by more than $400 million. Now those are the kinds of numbers that get policymakers’ attention.

I’ll upload the presentation to the Alliance Resource Library soon.

Last year, a case study from Baltimore showed that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure created twice as many jobs as road-only construction projects. Now, a larger study confirms those job creation numbers on a wider scale. With the debate on a federal transportation bill imminent, this report provides valuable insight about the important economic benefits of biking and walking. Read the press release from our partners at America Bikes and download the report below.

Washington, D.C. (June 20, 2011) — Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects create more jobs per dollar spent than other road construction projects, according to a new study, Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts, conducted and released this month by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The report builds on an earlier PERI case study of Baltimore, Maryland, and is the first national study to compare job creation of bicycling and walking infrastructure with other roadway construction projects. Using actual bid price and cost data, the study compares 58 projects in 11 cities and finds that bike projects create 46 percent more jobs than road projects without bike or pedestrian components.

On average, the “road-only” projects evaluated created 7.8 jobs per million, while the “bicycling-only” projects provided 11.4 jobs per million. For example, a roadway-focused project with no bicycle or pedestrian components in Santa Cruz, Calif., generated 4.94 jobs per $1 million spent. In contrast, a bicycle-focused project in Baltimore produced 14.35 jobs per million. The PERI reviewers attribute the difference to the simple fact that bicycle and pedestrian projects are often more labor intensive.

“It’s no secret that investing in transportation infrastructure creates jobs and helps the economy,” said Caron Whitaker, Campaign Director at America Bikes. “This study proves bicycle and pedestrian projects are no exception — in fact, they are especially efficient in creating jobs.”

The study arrives as Congress is writing a six-year Surface Transportation bill, and struggling to continue robust reinvestment in infrastructure while moderating federal spending. Funding for bicycling and walking is part of that debate.

“This report adds to a wealth of studies demonstrating the many economic benefits of investing in bicycle and pedestrian projects and programs,” said Andy Clarke, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists.

Download the full report from the Alliance Resource Library.