John Hennessy III,
P.E.
The 2016 election revealed a dramatic gap between two Americas—one based in large, diverse, thriving metropolitan regions; the other found in more homogeneous small towns and rural areas struggling under the weight of economic stagnation and social decline. This gap between two American geographies came as a shock to many observers.
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Many communities in rural Alaska are only accessible by air or by barge, making the transport of both people and goods expensive. Jeff Weltzin is the city manager of Tanana, Alaska, which is located 130 miles west of Fairbanks, near the Yukon River. Weltzin says Tanana’s 300 residents were being severely impacted by transportation costs—which was driving up the cost of living.
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In this report we examine residential energy affordability in rural and small-town America. We analyze how rural household energy burdens—the percentage of household income spent on energy bills—vary across regions and among specific groups. Overall, Americans living in rural areas spend a disproportionally high share of their income on energy bills.
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A lockbox containing $1.5 billion in federal funding for surface transportation projects has just opened up to communities across the United States. The funding comes from a new program called the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. The announcement came this week from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Any federal program that provides funding for transportation projects is great news to state and local officials. However, the same type of funding was previously available – just under another name. The new BUILD program is what the Trump administration calls an “enhanced” version of the former very popular TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant program. Translated, that means this is not really new funding.
View this complete post...Who would have thought that counties invest more than $122 billion each year to build infrastructure and maintain and operate public works? Very few! That statistic however, comes straight from the National Association of Counties (NAC) so the numbers are real. The data validates the fact that county government is “big business” in America.
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While it is sometimes assumed that public transportation is only essential for large urban areas with significant traffic congestion, this report shows that public transportation can also play an important role in rural areas and small towns. Although public transit serves a minor portion of total rural travel, the trips that are provided are particularly valuable. By examining current trends, this report reveals the increasingly critical connection between public transit and rural communities and small towns. This paper also looks at rural public transit cost efficiency, and describes successful examples of smaller community public transit programs.
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An aging and increasingly diverse rural America plays a vital role as home to a significant share of the nation’s population, natural resources and tourist destinations. It is also the primary source of the energy, food and fiber that drive the U.S. economy. Rural Americans are more reliant on their transportation system than their urban counterparts.
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CENTER FOR RURAL PENNSYLVANIA The Marcellus Shale Impacts Study Wave 2: Chronicling Social and Economic Change in Northern and Southwestern Pennsylvania Executive Summary Traffic concerns, especially truck traffic and road safety, have been identified in a number of studies in the Marcellus Shale region (Brasier et al., 2011). By some estimates, a single well in […]
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AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION
Unfortunately, the agriculture industry is uniquely dependent on efficient rail freight systems in the hotspots most affected by congestion. Some North Dakota grain elevators, for instance, entirely rely on rail shipment to keep business flowing. Rail congestion in 2014 stopped service to them for weeks and months at a time – a total collapse in the system that supports their livelihood. Ultimately, family farmers bore the costs of scarce rail service. The USDA estimates grain and oilseed producers throughout the Upper Midwest may have received $570 million less for the crops they marketed in 2014 than they could have earned in a normal freight environment.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The purpose of this analysis is to examine trends in the type of transportation used to move grains grown for the food and feed industry. Grains produced in the United States move to domestic and foreign markets through a well-developed transportation system. Barge, rail, and truck transportation facilitate a highly competitive market that bridges the gap between U.S. grain producers and domestic and foreign consumers.
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