The findings are presented of two successful conferences which formed the foundation of a unique process of federal rule-making, and the underlying process that culminated in the conferences is discussed. The availability of new funds for urban mass transportation in 1974 raised complex questions of equitable resource allocation. Reaching answers to these questions involved the developing of consensus on a series of compromise solutions that would best reconcile the competing demands of different claimants. The first conference in February 1975 reached agreement on five principles which dealt with regional multimodal strategy, incremental planning, managing of the existing system, framework for evaluation, and public involvement. Cost effectiveness and usable segments were other areas of Administration's (UMTA) description of the implementation of 1976 was to review the Urban Mass Transportation Administrations (UMTA) description of the implementation of the proposed policy as well as to review on the revised policy on Urban Mass Transportation Investment. A number of related issues were discussed at both conferences. Documents prepared by UMTA as background to the conferences are discussed.

Transportation improvement alternatives on the US 59 Southwest Freeway corridor are evaluated from the full-cost, life-cycle perspective for the Houston/Galveston Area Council (HGAC). The alternatives involve facility improvements as well as vehicle occupancy improvements. Findings suggest that the current facility will not be able to service the projected peak-hour traffic demand; and after running MODECOST - a computer model based on the full-cost analysis concept, developed by the authors - the results showed that travelers bore a significant amount of external costs, including congestion costs and air pollution costs. The annual life-cycle cost savings from the reduction of external costs and user/agency costs can more than offset the cost of initial investment for expansion of the current facility. This case study shows that in many instances, external costs and user/agency costs are more relevant than the initial capital investment in the facility. Expanding the current facility to add general purpose lanes or High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to accommodate ridesharing and special transit service reduces the external costs and user/agency costs, which in turn reduces the system life-cycle costs of the facility.