Ohio River Navigation Investment Model: Requirements and Model Design

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is assisting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in improving its economic analysis procedures for evaluation of inland waterway investment projects along the Ohio River system. The context and design of an integrated approach to calculating the systemwide benefits from alternative combinations of lock and channel improvements, providing an ability to project the cost savings from proposed waterway improvements in capacity and reliability for up to 50 years into the future, is described. The design contains an in-depth treatment of the levels of risk and uncertainty associated with different multiyear lock and channel improvement plans, including the uncertainty that results from a high degree of interaction between the many different waterway system components.