Cordova South Harbor RAISE Grant 

Overview

Benefit-Cost Analysis in support of a successful RAISE grant application for harbor improvements

Project Lead: Mike Fisher, Terri McCoy

Northern Economics conducted a benefit-cost analysis and community interviews in support of the City of Cordova’s application for a 2021 RAISE grant for improvements to the South Harbor. After completing the work for a RAISE grant, the contract was amended to include a slightly expanded benefit-cost analysis, to include improvements to the North Harbor, for a PIDP grant application. The city had previously hired another consultant for prior years’ grant applications, so our work updated and expanded that analysis. We redeveloped the spreadsheet to make it more user-friendly and add sensitivity analyses based on USDOT reviewers’ feedback on those prior applications. We also expanded the benefits considered in the analysis and removed less-defensible claims. Our client praised our more data-driven analysis and report.

The City’s RAISE grant application was successful, and it was awarded $20 million for the improvements.