Base Realignment and Closure transfers - Essay Example

The American federal government has previously attempted to promote "rail usage and guide its development". The federal government has been involved in measures which influenced "local rail interests". As per critics, the rail policy implementation is complicated issue. It was in 1998 when the American government funded massively towards surface transportation. The Congress approved Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), this law provided "states with funding and opportunities for five major rail issues: magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) transportation technology deployment, high-speed rail development, light density rail line pilot projects, railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing, and the Alaska Railroad". A contract of $60million was granted to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for funding towards "nationally significant state projects that will demonstrate the feasibility and safety of MAGLEV technology" in 1999-2001. As per legislation, $15 million was sanctioned towards research and development of the transportation system, and proposal for the allotment of additional $950 million was planned. The states were asked to submit their expression of interests for the project, so that appropriate allotment of funds shall be carried, "After all states have completed planning activities, the DOT will provide assistance to one project for final design, engineering and construction" (Paul, 2007). As per regulations discussed in Swift Rail Development Act for state high-speed rail expansion, "the DOT may provide financial assistance to a public agency or group of public agencies for high-speed rail corridor planning and high-speed rail technology improvements". It is specified that DOT will provide maximum 50 percent "publicly financed costs" (Paul, 2007). This allotment was subject to planning evaluation inclusive of "funds allocation, environmental assessments, feasibility studies, economic analysis, impact assessments, rail employment assessments, operational planning, route selection analysis and purchase of rights of way for high-speed service, preliminary engineering and design, identification of specific corridor improvements, preparation of financing plans and creation of public and private partnerships" (University of Alabama, 2007). The intent of the funding towards high-speed rail technology was to ensure "improvement, adaptation and integration of proven technologies for commercial application in high-speed rail service". The policy was with specific reference to Huntsville, four-county region comprising Limestone, Marshall, Madison, and Morgan counties. The Congress approved "total of $40 million for fiscal years 1998-2001 for corridor planning and $100 million for technology improvements" towards Alabama region. Significance of Applied Proposal The intent of this article is to assess the economic and transportation impacts of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 transfers on Huntsville, four-county region comprising Limestone, Marshall, Madison, and Morgan counties. The study will assist in the development of strategies which shall "anticipate and mitigate adverse impacts on transportation and other infrastructure, as well as schools, parks, hospitals, etc". Several measures were undertaken to "maximize the economic benefits while maintaining a high quality of life in the region", and the incorporated Base Realignment and Closure. It is expected that the incorporation of the BRAC 2005 transfers "will provide a direct net gain of about 4,000 military and government civilian personnel with an average annual income of $70,000, more than double the $33,416 average for an Alabama worker in 2004". As plan the approved plan, "more than 3,600 housing units will be built at a cost of $617 million for these workers" and a $359 million military construction projects have been declared. It is estimated that the implementation of these projects will develop "one-time economic impacts on Alabama of $1.9 billion in output, $510 million in household earnings, and nearly 16,000 direct and indirect jobs from 2006 to 2010". The detailed explanation of the marked benefits includes "$1.4 billion output, $388.5 million earnings and 10,473 direct and indirect jobs" (University of Alabama, 2007). The development will further increase the revenue of the state government, "nearly $38 million in income and sales taxes accompany these impacts; $20.4 million state income, $8.6 million state sales, $5.5 million region sales, and $3.1 million for the 63 other counties". It is estimated that the "Redstone Arsenal BRAC 2005 payroll will generate annual output impacts of $457 million on Alabama and $374 million on the region by 2009". It has been concluded that "every $100 million of non-contract non-payroll expenditure delivered to final demand will create output impacts of $163 million for the state and $133 million for the region". The economic breakdown of the benefits and returns has been categorized as "earnings impacts are $456 million state-wide and $373 million for the region, employment impacts are 5,505 jobs on the state and 4,870 jobs for the region, fiscal impacts are $26.5 million in state taxes; income $18.2 million, sales $7.7 million, and property $0.6 million, tax receipts for the region total $9.2-10.3 million; $6.3 million sales and $2.9-4.0 million property. The state government had already planned series of projects which envisaged creation of nascent projects for funding towards light density rail line pilot projects. The DOT assisted in "pilot projects for capital improvements and rehabilitation of publicly and privately owned rail line structures; funding may not be used to provide operating assistance" (University of Alabama, 2007). An in-house cohort component model has been developed; this model has been designed by Centre for Business and Economic Research which projects county and block group population. The model is based upon "measured demographic change including population growth between 1990 and 2000 and recent county birth and death rates" (Paul, 2007). The remaining population change is influenced by the migration factor, "net migration is calculated as the residual between the 2000 Census count and its 1990 tally after adding births between 1990 and 2000 and subtracting deaths". Evaluation and Probability of Success – BARC Plan As per taxation department, "other Alabama counties receive $1.8-1.9 million sales and property taxes" (University of Alabama, 2007). The contract expenditure of $1 billion towards BARC 2005 provided "state-wide economic and fiscal impacts of about $2 billion in output, $495 million in earnings, and 10,858 direct and indirect jobs". The regional impacts of BARC 2005 is approximated at "$1.8 billion output, $367 million earnings, and 7,632 jobs". As per estimation, "the average annual income for these jobs is $48,000, but 2,472 of the total jobs impacts are direct jobs that earn $83,000 annually, fiscal impacts are $28.9 million for the state ($19.8 million income, $8.4 million sales, and $0.8 million property), and $10.7-12.6 million for the region comprising $6.2 million sales and $4.5-6.4 million property". The remaining Alabama counties "receive $3.5-4.1 million sales and property taxes, amounting to total annual outcome of $43.2-45.6 million to all jurisdictions" (University of Alabama, 2007). It is important to specify that these contracts are not definite, due to the uncertainty of amount associated with projects, "the $1 billion estimate used is based on recent Redstone Arsenal contracts relative to total budget" (Paul, 2007). According to governmental sources, the regional population is expected to soar by 15 percent, "the population will be approximately 652,000 in 2015 and surpass 718,000 by 2030, from the 2000 level, employment is forecast to be 23 percent higher in 2010, 32 percent higher in 2015, and 81.5 percent higher to nearly 609,000 in 2030" (University of Alabama, 2007). It is hoped that the high income program feature of BARC will improve the average and median incomes for the employees within the region. As per governmental projections of the fuel taxes based upon population projection, "fuel taxes in 2010, 2015, and 2030 will be $6.4 million, $10.9 million, and $18.9 million more than the 2004 level, respectively" (University of Alabama, 2007). The financial and social projections discussed are conservative, primarily because "the contract expenditure that is fully spent in the four-county region and the state will generate contractor related jobs for which there will be substantial residential housing demand" (University of Alabama, 2007). It is also expected that "all residential construction expenditure will generate additional sales tax that is practically impossible to estimate without detailed information on the nature of the expenditure" (University of Alabama, 2007). It is important to focus upon the development of large infrastructure, this requires major investment to ensure that "expected future travel demand associated with the growth coming to Huntsville and the surrounding area required for transportation services in the City of Huntsville" is met. As per analysis, the congestion is regarded as the crucial problem which shall curtail the expected growth. It is therefore important that sufficient growth is achieved to improve the roadway capacity in the network. It is observed that "vehicle miles of travel nearly double and vehicle hours of travel more than triple from 2005 to 2030; average speed of travel falls to 15.9 mph from 30.7 mph" (University of Alabama, 2007). It has been forecasted that the "miles of congested roadway will rise from 1.35 percent of the total network length in 2005 to 4.65 percent in 2015 and 15.60 percent by 2030". It is important the systems and programs relevant to high-occupancy and parkland-ride are procured timely. It is important to advice "future impact study" which shall facilitate as more information is available", this will reduce "elements of uncertainty that were encountered in determining the BRAC transfer impacts at this stage" (University of Alabama, 2007). The critical areas associated with the element of uncertainty are severely related to the financial impact estimates. It is important to specify that the expenditures incurred towards military projects vary significantly during the start and middle of the project. It is important to reiterate that BARC transfer will develop significant impacting on the "four-county region and Alabama as a whole irrespective of the above-mentioned uncertainties" (University of Alabama, 2007). It is advisable that the communities settled in the region will be influenced positively and negatively through BARC implementation. It is hoped that initial investment towards infrastructure and amenities will lead to the reduction of congestion on the roadways, at parks, schools, libraries, etc. It is important to specify that no plan shall be able to pursue long range transportation plan, and it is different to avoid congestion. As per scheduled plan, by 2030 LRP network shall be operational, and therefore "projected vehicle hours of travel with BRAC will be more than 1.5 times what it would be without BRAC, this system has the potential to further include system wide speeds at about 70% of those projected without BRAC" (University of Alabama, 2007). The launch of customer service process has offered firm face to the customer, it is important that this forum shall provide real information to customer. The real-time information shall be provided to the customer, and sections including operations and logistics shall play pivotal rule in this regard. This will require "strategic aspects, such as the development of the response procedures and the establishment of the infrastructure needed to respond" (Paul, 2007). This process includes "tactical aspects, such as the recognition of the events that require a response, the implementation of the responses and the control of the process". The supply chain supports in the recognition of events and customers, and assist in the communication of the response procedure. This information will improve the response time, and will support "downstream part of the customer service management process but also the internal one". It is expected that the demand management process will help in the adjustment of customers requirements, inclusive of "forecasting demand and synchronising it with distribution, production and procurement" (Paul, 2007). References 1. Paul R. Murphy, Jr., Donald Wood. 2007. Contemporary Logistics, Course Smart textbook, 9th Edition. Prentice Hall 2. Huntsville Area BRAC Transfers: Economic and Transportation Impact Assessment. Centre for Business and Economic Research. Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering College of Engineering. The University of Alabama. April 2007. 3. James B. Reed, Matt Sundeen and Chris Burnett. Environment, Energy and Transportation Program. State Rail Transportation Issues and Policies. June 1999. Transportation Series No. 11. Read More