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Economic impact analysis of GDOT short line railroad infrastructure investment in Georgia

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  • McCarthy, Patrick
  • Zhai, Zhe

Abstract

Short line railroads are critical to Georgia's transportation infrastructure and support the efficient movement of goods into and out of the State. Twenty-nine short line railroads operate in Georgia, six of which operate either partially or totally over 596 miles of rail track that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) owns. Based on the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Input-Output Modelling System (RIMS II) backward-linkage model, this study estimates the economic impacts associated with short line railroad revenues and with GDOT infrastructure spending on these six short line systems under different sets of assumptions. Among the economic impacts, and depending on the assumptions, the study finds that cumulatively, the six systems increase annual output in the range of $2.8 - $14.5 million, increase annual earnings in the range of $0.7 - $4.1 million, generate annual value-added in the range of $1.4 - $7.5 million, and annually add 10–93 jobs on average.

Suggested Citation

  • McCarthy, Patrick & Zhai, Zhe, 2019. "Economic impact analysis of GDOT short line railroad infrastructure investment in Georgia," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:77:y:2019:i:c:s0739885918301574
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2019.05.001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short line; Railroad; Economic impact; Infrastructure; RIMS II;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • L92 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
    • R15 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Econometric and Input-Output Models; Other Methods
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

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