Rural transportation facilities and services play a critical role in supporting both commerce and quality of life in rural America. The cost and availability of freight transportation services affects the profitability of farms and businesses that depend on those services to bring production inputs and consumer products into rural areas and to carry local products to markets. Similarly, passenger transportation services are important to mobility of rural residents to gain access to the opportunities and culture of the nation. Recent economic problems in rural communities, deregulation of transportation services, and increased responsibility of local governments for building and maintaining rural roads each have stimulated renewed concern for rural transportation issues.

This book looks at both the critical problems faced by rural regions and the successful approaches that have been used to help state and local governments, as well as rural enterprises, deal with those problems. Written by professionals who are active in the field of transportation economics, and who are all at land-grant institutions, the text is based primarily on the experiences of the Cooperative Extension Services and transportation institutes affiliated with land-grant universities. After a brief overview of emerging rural transportation issues and the educational challenges associated with those issues, chapters provide a comprehensive examination of key transportation issues: provision and financing of rural roads and bridges; deregulation of agricultural transportation; evaluation of the contribution of transportation to economic development; firm level transportation management; rural passenger transportation problems and solutions; and the movement of hazardous materials. Included are several case studies of successful approaches that have been used to tackle rural transportation problems in rural areas.

Providing in a single volume, for the first time, a comprehensive evaluation of rural transportation issues and potential solutions, this book is a valuable resource for educators, practitioners, and students in the field of rural transportation.