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Department to evaluate the project's cost-effectiveness by estimating a benefit -cost ratio <br />and calculating the magnitude of net benefits for the project. <br />The primary economic benefits from projects eligible for BUILD Transportation <br />grants are likely to include savings in travel time costs, vehicle or terminal operating <br />costs, and safety costs for both existing users of the improved facility and new users who <br />may be attracted to it as a result of the project. Reduced damages from vehicle emissions <br />and savings in maintenance costs to public agencies may also be quantified. Applicants <br />may describe other categories of benefits in the BCA that are more difficult to quantify <br />and value in economic terms, such as improving the reliability of travel times or <br />improvements to the existing human and natural environments (such as increased <br />connectivity, improved public health, storm water runoff mitigation, and noise reduction), <br />while also providing numerical estimates of the magnitude and timing of each of these <br />additional impacts wherever possible. Any benefits claimed for the project, both <br />quantified and unquantified, should be clearly tied to the expected outcomes of the <br />project. <br />The BCA should include the full costs of developing, constructing, operating, and <br />maintaining the proposed project, as well as the expected timing or schedule for costs in <br />each of these categories. The BCA may also consider the present discounted value of any <br />remaining service life of the asset at the end of the analysis period. The costs and <br />benefits that are compared in the BCA should also cover the same project scope. <br />The BCA should carefully document the assumptions and methodology used to <br />produce the analysis, including a description of the baseline, the sources of data used to <br />project the outcomes of the project, and the values of key input parameters. Applicants <br />PAGE 26 <br />