I-90/Irene Road Interchange Economic Impact Analysis
In 2009 Hanson Professional Services approached Boone County with an offer to conduct an Economic Impact Analysis for a planned Tollway Interchange at I-90 and Irene Road. The goal of the analysis was to determine the potential employment and economic activity that would be created as a direct result of the development of the interchange.
Study
Hanson Professional Services goal was to quantify the potential economic effect of the proposed project. A working group was formed from local agencies to discuss the potential development and determine assumptions from which to build the model scenarios. Those scenarios were then analyzed within economic impact models
The working group developed two scenarios for analysis, and Hanson added a third
scenario. The scenarios specified how many and what broad categories of jobs would be created if the interchange were constructed. The numbers and categories of jobs were based in large part on previous study efforts including the “Growth Management Study” conducted by Northern Illinois University for the City of Belvidere in 2007, the collaborative Flora Neighborhood Plan, and other recent public outreach activities, studies and neighborhood plans.
Findings
After analysis of the three potential scenarios a range of 422 to 23,803 jobs could be created and a range of $56,091,400 to $2,299,159,456 in economic activity yearly. The entire study can be found here: