Principal Investigator: Dr. Jane Kolodinsky (Community Development and Applied Economics)
Co-Investigators: Dr. Brian Flynn (Department of Psychiatry), Dr. Frederick Schmidt (Community Development and Applied Economics)
Funding Agency: US DOT
Partners: VTrans, New England Transportation Institute (NETI) and Resource Systems Group, Inc. (RSG)
The climate and development patterns of rural northern communities make mobility particularly challenging and often cost prohibitive. This project focuses on how weather impacts three aspects of mobility: un-served travel demand, bicycle travel and pedestrian transportation.
First, in partnership with the New England Transportation Institute (NETI), using new survey data and existing Center for Rural Studies (CRS) built environment data; team members are measuring and describing the effects of weather on both revealed and un-served travel demand in rural northern communities. Focus groups and surveys are measuring the seasonal variation in bicycle travel demand as well as the associated causes of this variation in order to recommend policies and programs that might promote year-round use. A continuing analysis of pedestrian volume data has already indicated that weather can account for 30% of volume variation.
Project Overview (PDF, March 2010)