01363054

Component

Northern rural communities are particularly challenging environments in which to provide year-round transportation options and ensure that people can meet their travel (mobility) wants and needs. Climate, lack of amenities, small population sizes and low population densities, as well as vulnerable populations, all present challenges to developing rural transportation systems that will result in more livable communities. Using a 2009 database of residents of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire, this study examined how the availability of built and natural amenities, weather and attitudes towards travel help to explain revealed and unserved travel demand and subsequently, how these variables affect livability as measured by quality of life (QOL) in a northern rural climate. Structural equation modeling was used to obtain estimates of QOL. The presence of unserved travel demand significantly decreased QOL. This suggests that addressing unserved travel demand, not trip making, should be the primary objective of future mobility initiatives in northern rural climates.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA30 Transportation Planning for Small and Medium-Sized Communities

01362476

12-3820

English

16p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Tables

Frigid regions; Impact studies; Mobility; Quality of life; Rural areas; Structural equation modeling; Travel demand; Weather and climate

Maine; New Hampshire; Vermont

Planning and Forecasting; Society; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-3820

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:19PM