Cities and metropolitan areas are major economic generators for their states and the nation as a whole. Their economic strength through expanded job creation and reliable, efficient access to jobs is a vital priority. Extensive research has shown that the economic health of urbanized areas is heavily reliant on comprehensive, well-maintained, and efficiently operated roadway and transit systems. Moving people and goods with as little delay as possible improves the quality of life, reduces travel costs, sustains economic growth through improved accessibility to jobs and reduced costs to firms, and reduces the negative environmental impacts of travel.

Deferred maintenance and development of roadway infrastructure and public transportation systems are major concerns nationwide. The critical deferred needs of state and local transportation systems have been well documented; however there has not been an accounting of the comparative economic consequences of failure to develop and maintain transportation infrastructure in an economic center versus elsewhere in a state.

Insufficient funding being generated from traditional taxes and fees poses a challenge to keep the nation's transportation systems in a state of good repair. In metropolitan areas, the federal-aid system at the state level is inextricably linked to the locally-owned roadway and street systems and with public transit systems. Failure in any one component of that system can result in overburdening connecting facilities and potentially contributing to their failure. The economic consequences to the state and nation can be profound.

Objective of the Call for Papers

This call is intended to develop a collection of papers to be presented at the 2013 TRB Annual Meeting that focus on development of analysis strategies and/or tools for evaluating the economic consequences of failure to maintain a state of good repair for critical state and local roadways and public transit systems. Consideration should be given to the coupling of microeconomic and macroeconomic factors with asset management strategies to broaden financial resource allocation and prioritization. The focus can be on roadway infrastructure or transit systems individually or as a system.

Authors interested in submitting papers are advised to visit www.TRB.org/AnnualMeeting and review the Information for Authors. Authors submitting papers in response to this Call for Papers should submit full papers for peer review to the Transportation Research Board online at www.TRB.org/AnnualMeeting. This paper submission is open from June 1 to August 1. Please show the sponsoring committee name or the Call for Papers title on the papers submission form. Please contact the Call for Papers organizer if you are submitting a paper or need additional information.

Paper Submission Requirements

TRB has a single paper submittal deadline for the Annual Meeting. Papers must be in PDF format and submitted by August 1. The paper submission website will close when it is no longer August 1 anywhere in the world. Also, authors are asked to add line numbering to their papers in their word-processing program (starting with number one on each page) prior to converting to PDF to facilitate the review process. TRB recommends that authors submit their papers well before the deadline to avoid last minute complications and delays.