Book Description

Project No. 2150 develops a methodology for determining the impact of highway bypasses on small town business districts in Oklahoma. The focus is predicting likely impacts of proposed bypasses on US 70. Economic impacts are measured by comparing changes in the sales tax base in the bypassed cities with those of in similar non-bypassed cities. Quasi-experimental control group and difference-in-difference estimation techniques are employed. The method is demonstrated by analyzing the 1993 bypass of Stonewall as well as bypasses of Rush Springs and Snyder in the early 1970s. The null hypothesis that the bypasses had no impact on city sales taxes cannot be rejected. The results are not conclusive due to a lack of bypass cases and usable data on traffic volumes and composition, residential property values, regional economic performance and business climate during the pre-bypass period.