Aerotropolis Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
Project Prioritization & Funding Strategy
CLIENT: ATL Airport Community Improvement Districts
Purpose of Project
The ATL Airport Community Improvement Districts (AACIDs) is located south of Atlanta, surrounding the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The mission of the AACIDs is to improve the quality of life and promote economic growth focusing on three key areas – transportation, beautification, and public safety. The AACIDs developed its first Master Plan in 2015 which included several transportation and beautification recommendations. After several years of implementing projects, the AACIDs needed an update to its Capital Improvement Program (CIP). AACIDs contract Modern Mobility Partners (MMP) to evaluation the remaining capital and beautification projects and prioritize them based on their performance. From there, MMP reviewed each project for applicable funding sources at the federal, state, and local levels.
Our Role on the Project
As the prime consultant, MMP developed a project prioritization framework and funding strategy for the CIP. The project prioritization framework included six evaluation criteria categories, one of which was related to return on investment (ROI). We then calculated the ROI for different types of projects, including beautification, bicycle and pedestrian improvements, widenings, etc. MMP also determined economic impacts as a measure of jobs created, looking for national standards based on project type.
Problem Solvers
The unique challenge of this project was developing an evaluation matrix with a healthy mix of quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria. Because many of the projects included in the AACIDs capital improvement program were at the beginning stages of development, the information and data related to those projects were limited. MMP did substantial research across the nation to build evaluation criteria for each of the six criteria. MMP looked at several weighting criteria to see whether the weights would impact the overall rankings. In fact, the results indicated that no matter the weighting criteria, good projects always rank towards the top. As an added deliverable to the AACIDs, MMP created a fact sheet for each of the project summarizing its performance, potential funding sources, quantified benefits, and technology and safety elements for competitive grants.
