DECISION ANALYSIS FOR THE RIVER WALK EXPANSION IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS¹

Abstract

The San Antonio River Walk is considered a unique tourist attraction as well as an urban rejuvenation catalyst for San Antonio, Texas. This utilization of the mile‐long horseshoe bend in the downtown area of San Antonio is as successful and imaginative as can be found in the United States. Testimony is very strong from San Antonio voters and outside visitors of the great social and economic value of the River Walk. This overwhelming success has led to plans for expansion of the present River Walk. The River Walk expansion decision should not be evaluated merely on a benefit‐cost ratio. It has become the recommendation of the Water Resources Council that intangible attributes such as recreational values and social impacts should be considered as well as tangible attributes such as cost. This prevailing attitude has highlighted the application of decision analysis techniques with multiattribute utility ratings. Decision analysis is a systematic solution procedure which can be used to crystallize a complicated decision problem into manageable subproblems by ranking the decision alternatives in accordance with cardinal utility values attached to their consequences. Recent advances in multiattribute utility theory allow a decision maker to weigh utility assessment over tangible and intangible attributes according to their relative importance. This insures that the intangible attributes will receive due consideration in the final decision‐making.