Highway Element Investment Review Guidelines

With the development of its Highway Element Investment Review (HEIR) Guidelines, and accompanying spreadsheet calculation tool, MTO has taken another step toward ensuring its infrastructure dollars go where they'll bring the biggest benefit to highway users. The HEIR Guidelines replace the Prioritized Contract Content (PCC) Guidelines and is now the tool to use when determining the cost-effectiveness of elemental highway improvements.

As part of the HEIR Guidelines project, similar tools used across North America were reviewed. The new HEIR Guidelines is a state-of-the-art prioritization and justification tool that includes several noteworthy enhancements over the PCC Guidelines:

* A robust spreadsheet program that greatly simplifies benefit/cost calculations

* Improved formulas for estimating collision reduction

* Updated economic analysis methodology

* The ability to analyze more highway elements types

* More worked examples of potential highway element improvements

* A detailed procedure with clear roles and responsibilities for storing and analyzing results

* Guiding philosophy on the relationship between safety, cost-effectiveness and design

* Updated guidance for improvements that have no collision reduction equations

* An explanation of how the HEIR Guidelines relates to the Corridor Investment Planning process

Since the PCC Guidelines were first published in 1997, significant developments have been made in the science of estimating the performance of highway safety improvements. Examples include, the Science of Highway Safety initiative and the study of Collision Modification Factors completed for MTO in 2003. The HEIR Guidelines not only builds on these developments but also on the research carried out as part of the HEIR project.

The new HEIR Guidelines deal with specific improvements not covered by the ministry's other tools. The Guidelines include both benefit/cost equations and relevant non-economic considerations that should be reviewed when assessing potential highway improvements. It will supplement, rather than replace, the ministry's existing standards and policies.

The Guidelines includes sections dealing with pavement, highway geometrics, roadside, drainage, structures, traffic signals, pavement markings, signing, barrier systems, medians, illumination, operational improvements, and facilities.

Training courses are planned to start in fall 2007. Self-study training courses for the HEIR Guidelines and spreadsheet calculation tool are planned to be available on the MTO Intranet.

With the launch of the HEIR Guidelines, MTO will be one step closer to realizing its Asset Management goal of making “the right investment, in the right place, at the right time."