Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Civil Engineering Systems: New York City's Primary Water Supply

This paper proposes a method for cost-effectiveness studies of civil engineering works and illustrates it by an example of its application to an urban-systems problem. This approach tries to bridge the dichotomy of objectives that often exists between the policy levels of government and the engineering agencies, and that leads to frequent impasses for implementation. The process first broadens the traditional terms of reference for public-works design, which are usually governed by engineering standards only tenuously related to the multiple objectives of a facility. Second, a procedure is suggested for generating alternative configurations for the system and its components. Finally, a means is presented for exploring alternative time-phased strategies of development. The paper presents a case study of the application of this approach to the planning and design of New York City's Third City Water Supply Tunnel, and discusses its lessons.