Project Overview
While other regions in the United States reap the benefits of evolving approaches and projects in public transport planning, Appalachia still awaits the realization of a complete highway network whose construction began decades ago. Meanwhile, cash-strapped transit agencies and significant transit-dependent populations linger outside the spotlight cast by motor vehicle-oriented infrastructure. This project examines current characteristics of rural public transit planning processes in Appalachia and the role of an auto-oriented infrastructure project, the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS), in shaping those characteristics. Findings from this project provide new insights about the challenges faced by transit practitioners and planners in Appalachia, their community-based solutions, and the influence of auto-oriented investments on the region’s capacity to foster mobility justice. Drawing on historical and current evidence from literature and qualitative data from interviews with transit professionals familiar with the region, this work casts doubt on the aims and efficacy of the ADHS and argues for a fresh evaluation of the paradigms that have historically guided transportation megaprojects. This information, combined with preliminary research into current transit conditions in the region, reveals a snapshot of how mobility in Appalachia has been negatively influenced by decades of auto-oriented policy and investments, and what can be done about it.
Data Overview
This project involved collecting and analyzing interview data from current practitioners in the region. Interviews were conducted with a series of transit researchers and planning practitioners who live and work in Appalachian counties. Interlocutors worked in a variety of roles involved in maintaining and expanding public transit services, including city planners, transit planners, metropolitan planning organization-level (MPO) planners, MPO directors, and transit researchers with specialties in rural transit. During the interviews, subjects answered questions about systemic barriers to mobility in Appalachia, whether they sense a causal relationship between the ADHS and those barriers, and their ideas about how to address the region’s transit deficits. The interviews were conversational; questions were omitted from the script if they weren’t relevant to the interlocutor’s particular role or if it would create redundancy in the conversation. Questions were also added on an ad hoc basis when clarification was needed, or if an interlocutor raised a point that could potentially lead to a relevant finding.
