Using Emerging Transportation Technologies to Address Rural Mobility Needs 

Abstract
Applications of new transportation technologies and mobility alternatives have primarily focused on urban areas with high population densities and large customer markets. This has left many rural areas unserved even as they face mobility needs that are as great as or even greater than those faced by cities. Cadmus, EBP, and the Western Transportation Institute have been working with the Federal Highway Administration to identify opportunities for addressing rural needs using emerging transportation technologies. This research comes at a critical time when rural areas and small towns are increasingly isolated from jobs and healthcare as hospitals close and industries cluster in metropolitan areas. These shifts have created serious mobility challenges, especially because private vehicle travel is often the only available travel option in rural America.

Our research team will begin by presenting a custom classification system used to analyze differences in mobility (1) between rural and urban areas and (2) among different types of rural areas. The system was developed specifically for transportation analysis, drawing from a wide range of past work and existing federal government systems designed for other types of research. It includes five categories based on population or spatial characteristics (metropolitan, fringe, micropolitan, rural towns, and remote) and four categories based on other distinct characteristics (agriculture/extraction, older-age, destination, and tribal). The classification system will be compared with existing, commonly used systems that some audience members will be familiar with, including those developed by the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Agriculture, and Office of Management and Budget, among others.

After explaining the custom classification system, we will present our analysis of critical performance measures (e.g., commute time, primary care physicians per 10,000 people). This will also include a summary of eight identified needs that communities must address to close performance gaps between rural and urban areas. These will include needs related to affordability, infrastructure, sustainability, and other topics, and be tailored specifically to identify needs that can be linked to changes in the transportation ecosystem during recent years. The methodology for identifying these performance measures and location-based unmet needs will provide participants with new ideas on where to focus their efforts related to innovative solutions.

Finally, we will leave session participants with strategies for addressing unmet needs that are tailored to the different types of rural areas presented in the classification system. These strategies will focus specifically on how emerging transportation technologies and other new opportunities in the transportation space (like ridehailing, automation, and others) can support planners and policymakers as they work to improve mobility in their communities. The hope is that these strategies can help emerging mobility reach all corners of the country in ways that benefit travelers and non-travelers alike.