Santa Clara River Trail Final Master Plan - Development Services ...

Chapter 5: Benefit Cost Analysis
The benefit-cost ratio weighs the anticipated annual benefits of the pathway against the estimated
construction and maintenance costs for the pathway. The estimated construction cost for this project is
$7.1 million. For benefit-cost analyses, construction costs incurred from 2011 to 2015 and annual
maintenance and operating costs over 30 years are adjusted to net present value (NPV). Annual benefits
(2011 dollars) were calculated based on high estimates, best estimates and low estimates for the number
of bicycle commuters that would use the Santa Clara River Trail, following the NCHRP Report 552
methodology for both 5 percent and 2.5 percent discount rates.
Existing Count Data
This analysis is informed by count data on trails in areas with similar climate and number of rideable
days per year. This analysis assumes that walking and bicycling use on the Santa Clara River Trail will be
similar to that of the Ballona Creek Path, which is a river path connecting to the beach at Marina del Ray,
a popular recreation destination. The Los Angeles River Path is a regional trail system similar to the
eventual nature of the Santa Clara River Trail.
Count data are available from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition’s 2009 Bicycle and Pedestrian
Count and from counts conducted as part of the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (Draft
2010). Counts are shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Comparison of Pedestrian and Bicycle Counts on Similar Trails
Morning Peak Afternoon Peak Weekend Midday
Location
Ped Bike Ratio Ped Bike Ratio Ped Bike Ratio
L.A. Bike Count
Orange Line multi-use path
Reseda & Orange Line 1244 104 12.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Woodman & Orange Line 195 83 2.3 133 49 2.7 68 77 0.9
LA River at Baum Bridge 48 110 0.4 46 164 0.3 11 95 0.1
Ballona Creek N/A N/A N/A 181 353 0.5 421 1251 0.3
Culver City Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan
Ballona Creel at Overland 34 63 0.5 31 94 0.3 81 285 0.3
Ballona Creek Duquesne 36 51 0.7 N/A N/A N/A 7 107 0.1
One of the purposes of this data is to determine the typical ratio of pedestrian to bicyclists, as the
NCHRP Report 552 methodology considers only the increase in bicyclists on the trail. Assuming that the
ratio of pedestrians to bicyclists will remain constant provides an estimate of future pedestrian use of the
trail. Table 4 shows a significantly different ratio of pedestrians to bicyclists on the Orange Line multiuse
path on other, non-transit-corridor trails. The ratios from the L.A. River Trail at Baum Bridge and
along Ballona Creek are similar (ranging from 0.03 to 0.01). The average of those is used in this analysis.
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