Traffic congestion is increasing as more people travel for work-related and other reasons. Through transportation projects called active traffic management (ATM) strategies, transportation agencies work to alleviate the pressures of congestion on the roads. Transportation agencies analyze these project’s effectiveness through a cost-benefit analysis spreadsheet tool called the Tool for Operations Benefit-Cost Analysis (TOPS-BC). In this study, the TOPS-BC tool is compared to cost-benefit analysis best practices. The US-23 Flex route, an 8.5 mile stretch of Michigan’s US-23 from Ann Arbor to Whitmore Lake, will be used as an example project. The missing categories found in the literature were impacts on road ecology and nearby housing values. These missing categories will help lead to a more accurate benefit-cost ratio of projects like the Michigan US-23 Flex route.
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