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Privatization of Transportation Infrastructure: Options and Implications
Funded by Northwestern University
Reproduced from Northwestern University Transportation Center Research Abstracts 1996-97
Privatization is becoming increasingly common as a means to leverage limited public resources for transportation investments; increase the efficiency of transportation (and thereby improve service, reduce costs or both); and provide new, needed facilities and services. Privatization is not new in the history of transportation infrastructure, although its application has changed in recent decades.
This exploratory study is examining the competing and complementary motivations of private and public participants in infrastructure projects, using both historical and contemporary examples. The perspectives of economics, public policy, and engineering management are being used to understand the implications of public-private differences in objectives, incentives, options, and outcomes. The results should shed light on the circumstances and patterns of privatization which are both feasible and desirable for the transportation infrastructure projects, and will better define terms and conditions which make privatization feasible.
Researchers: Joseph L. Schofer, Professor of Civil Engineering and Transportation, j-schofer@northwestern.edu and John Christopher Kopp, M.S. Candidate in Civil Engineering, jckopp@northwestern.edu.
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